Be Careful What You Wish For
by LovelyDemon
Summary: Oz might have made the biggest mistake ever. But if the outcome is so good, how could he regret doing it? (Ozbert)
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Pandora Hears.**

* * *

Cold.

.

.

He was cold...

Rain was pouring down like there was no tomorrow, the sun stayed hidden behind a curtain of dark clouds and even though it was still very early it was very dark in the city Lebleux. Lightning lit up the many dark alleys, and everyone rather stayed inside. Therefore... No one noticed the fight that was going on outside.

.

A small boy was shivering from head to toe, hidden among many wooden boxes in a dark alley where no one would find him if they didn't know he was there. When looking at the dirt and wounds covering him, and the clothes he wore you would never guess that he was a noble. Especially not that he was the heir of the Vesalius dukedom, one of the four great dukedoms. You would have never guessed that he was the young Oz Vesalius that had held his second coming of age ceremony not two weeks ago, that one party that had ended in a complete nightmare.

This small boy was hiding, because otherwise he would only be running in the way of his friends. He knew he was a weak and useless boy and even though the man sword fighting lessons Break had given him, he was still very bad in a battle. And with the few experiences he got with a gun... Well, let's just say the only good thing the boy was very good at was running away and using himself as bait. But neither Alice nor Gilber liked that idea. So His servant had put him here. Far away from the Chain they were fighting against his reach. It was their first mission after the whole Isla Yura incident, which meant that Pandora finally found them stable enough to go back on missions. Yet, the boy would have never guessed it would be anything like _this_. The moment the battle had started, the boy had already noticed that this Chain hat went by the name of 'Wish' was smarter than they thought. That didn't make him stronger then Alice, but it did make it make it harder to attack since it disappeared and reappeared in different places before Alice could even lift up her weapon.

Oz could hear her screaming, he could hear her destroying the buildings around her while fighting, he could hear Gilbert screaming that she had to be more careful followed by two gunshots and the Chain screamed. "_You've made a mistake, human,"_ it hissed, "_I can look into your minds, I know what you desire and what you fear…" _it, then laughed, "_And what you fear is…"_ Oz could hear a slithering sound and held his breath, something was getting closer and closer to the alley he was hiding. The boy already figured out what it was. Sorry Gil. The teen thought while getting ready to run/

He yelped when a large hand suddenly came through the building, the building collapsed behind him, he got up right on time and started running before any bricks or wood could hit his head. Escaping death just by an inch, he hadn't heard the first three times Alice and Gil shouted his name but he sure noticed it now as Gilbert grabbed his arm and yanked him away from the chain, causing him to stumble and fall. Adrenaline pumping through his veins as he hit the ground hard. Blood and water came together, yet the boy didn't even give it a second look. He turned around and rolled away just in time, so that the Chain's large hand missed him again by just an inch.

"You bastard!" Alice screamed and attacked with her large blood stained scythe, the Chain only started laughing even harder while defending himself, not once did he attack back though. "_Fools. Do you honestly think you can defeat me?" _he screamed, "_I am Wish. The Will of the Abyss herself favors me above anyone else." _

"Then go back to her you piece of trash!" B-rabbit screamed and with one final blow Wish disappeared right before their eyes. "Huh?" with her blood red eyes, she looked around the place, spinning around her own axis. Until finally, returning to her human form and walking slowly to her both companions, exhausted. "I can't feel his presence anymore," the brunette then said when she was close enough,

Gilbert nodded, then turned around to face his master. "I'm sorry, Oz. Are you alright?" he asked, worried while helping him with standing up, wincing when seeing the boy bleeding from both knees and the palms of his hands.

"I'm fine," the boy nodded and smiled, yet a content sigh escaped his split lips.

The Raven smiled, yet it did not hide how worried he was while ruffled the young heir's hair, before looking at Alice. The girl simply nodded, he didn't even have to ask her if she was tired. This was their way of caring for each other.

"What did he mean though with reading minds?" Oz then asked, "As far as I know Chains can't do that."

"I haven't heard of it either," his servant admitted and they both glanced at Alice,

She frowned while thinking about it, "I've once heard about him, Wish. He can fulfill wishes, but as far as I know he is only interested in fulfilling the Will of the Abyss her wishes… He's the one that fulfills the illegal contractor's their wishes… _if they're still sane enough_, and it usually ends up nothing like they wanted. The clown as an example,"

"Oh," she glanced at her servant, whom had just made that sound and saw the tired expression on his face, "Oz, are you alright?"

"Just a bit tired," he sighed while giving her a kind smile,

"Let's return to our motel," Gilbert nodded and when seeing his master wobble a little when trying to walk, he quickly grabbed his shoulder to keep him from falling.

"Raven, look out!" Alice then shouted when the Chain reappeared behind the two males, it didn't even hesitate and immediately attacked Alice, who was powerless now that she was back to her human form. His master was too exhausted; he couldn't handle any more of the girl's powers. So Gil acted fast, he pushed Alice out of the way while Oz collapsed on the ground, the teen gazed with eyes wide of horror, watching how the young man held up his gun towards the Chain and fired three times but only hit it once. The Chain was fast, his large blue hands changed into claws and before anyone saw it coming it pierced its claw right through Gil's chest.

Both teens looked with horrified eyes at the scene, they both heard the awful sound of Gil choking in his own blood,

"No!" Oz screamed and all his tiredness was forgotten as he got up and ran to his servant, the chain disappeared once again, at the time Oz reached his servant he was completely gone. The boy let himself fall on the cold hard ground and didn't care about his knees getting even more injured as he looked at the large hole in his servant's chest, "No, no… Gil…" the young heir started panicking, the hole was larger than his hand, and his friend wasn't moving. "No, no, G-Gil… wake up." He tried to feel a pulse even though he knew it was useless. The boy felt panic slowly taking over his already small body.

Alice stood behind him; she was awfully quiet, yet he didn't care about her for once. To be honest, she didn't even cross his mind as he tried to wake up his servant, "No, no… Gil." He kept repeating those words, this was Gilbert after all, and he couldn't die. He couldn't. They've been through so much; there was no way that he could die.

"…O…Oz…" Alice finally spoke, "…Is he…"

"No. No, he isn't." the boy almost shouted harshly at the girl, he didn't even turn his head to look her, so of course he couldn't see the hurt look on the small girl's face, he knew that was a lie, but it finally got through him, it was ice cold in his head, the realization that his servant was death, he felt anger build up in himself along with sadness, he was angry that he was so useless, if it wasn't for him being so weak they could have used Alice's powers again, they could have saved Gilbert.

This was his fault. He always made a mess of everything.

The boy shook his head, eyes burning with tears that should have spilled a long time ago when Elliot died... This was too much. He couldn't handle this... He needed Gil.

"…You promised," he finally whispered while closing the man's broken eyes, his lip trembling, the cold of being so long in the rain didn't even get through to him anymore. "You promised me forever," the boy's words are no louder than a soft whisper, leaning down he let his forehead rest on Gil's.

"I'm so sorry, Gil."

The blond finally broke down, sobbing softly. If only Gilbert didn't know him, god he just wished that his servant would breath again, tell him he's fine, a wound like that could never kill him. He wished a better life for Gil; a life where everything went like Gilbert wanted it. He deserved so much better than this. He didn't deserve it, to die during a fight with only a useless master by his side and Alice, both too weak to carry him anywhere else and with no one around them to help them.

* * *

**"Your wish has been heard."**

* * *

The boy furrowed his brow and slowly got up, glancing at Alice with confusion. "Wha..."

He saw how the girl's eyes widened in shock, she wanted to run towards her contractor but somehow couldn't reach him. "Oz!"


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Pandora Hearts. **

**I was wondering, lately you haven't seen much new Pandora Hearts fanfics anymore. Anyone interested in writing one? I'll write one back ^^ (if you want, -though be warned, I can have this HUGE writer's block-)**

* * *

Lately there had been this thing, that whenever he woke up, he just wanted to go back to sleep. When he looked in the mirror while washing his face, he'd always felt like the person gazing back at him wasn't him. He'd feel odd in his own clothes; he'd feel odd in his _own_ skin. And perhaps the reason was because of his body changing, it wasn't normal for a contractor to use the powers of your chain like that. So why could he? And it was because of those powers that he'd also hurt his friends, it was with those powers… _those powers_ that almost killed Elliot, if not for the Nightray taking his own life. They might have told him Elliot did it because he did not want anyone to take his life from but himself, but even the young Vesalius knew that his friend had figured out that Oz could never live with himself -_knowing his friend had died by his own hands._

Well, today was one of those mornings. Yet, it was different. _It was worse._ He had already lost a very good friend, it had already hurt him. Yet, loosing Gil… well, it was completely different. His whole body felt heavy, his head hurt and breathing was hard. His lips were trembling and hot tears were ready to roll over his face if he didn't shut his eyes tight again and turned his side to bury his face in the soft pillows of his bed in the guest room of the Rainsworth mansion, well this room was filled with all the personal things he put here in the year he lived here, it had felt more like his room then the room at the Vesalius manor could ever be. But not today. Today it only reminded him of mornings where he woke up early and get dressed so that his servant could complain because he never let him help.

Gil would never complain about that again. _He couldn't._

A choked sob escaped his mouth before he could hold it back and hot tears wet the pillow, his whole body was trembling. It was _his_ fault. It was _always_ his fault. _Everything_ was his fault. If Gil could just come back, he'd thrown his life away, just to spare Gil's. He felt horrible. This pain in his chest felt even worse then when his own father rejected him.

-A knock on the door.

He wondered, now that Gil was gone. Who would wake him up? But his body felt too heavy, he couldn't turn around. Whoever had to wake him up sure must think he was a pathetic boy. Even Oz himself thought he was pathetic. If he wasn't so weak, _so useless_, so that people always had to stand up for him. If he could have just… if he could just be strong enough to defend himself, so that his friends didn't have to sacrifice themselves for him every goddamn time.

"Oz?"

A warm hand gently rested on his shoulder and he didn't flinch from the touch, he just buried his face deeper in the wet pillow and curled up in a ball. He wanted to be as small as possible, why does trash like him even need so much space?

"What's wrong?"

The voice sounded familiar… it sounded like Gil's, his mind must be teasing him. **Great**. _Just great_. Hearing people their voices when they were dead. He must have turned mad. "Oz, it's fine. It's not real, it's the poison."

Poison?

He frowned, was it normal that even though you know the voice inside your head wasn't real, it still didn't leave? Slowly, the teen sat up, quickly wiping his tears away, his eyes hurt and his mouth was dry. Yet the boy turned his head to face the person whom he thought was dead. Eyes widened, his mouth opened slightly and he took a deep breath. "_G…Gil_?" he breathed out the name, two golden eyes were gazing at him, and they belonged to a very worried owner… the raven smiled softly while gently wiping a tear away that had dared to roll over his cheek without his knowing. Yet, Oz did not mind that this man saw him crying. "But… you…" he managed to say, "I saw, you were…"

"It was a nightmare, the doctor warned us that the poison could do that." the man calmly explained,

"Wh-what poison?" the young boy asked, confused, he needed a proper explanation for this, was this person really Gil? _His Gil? _

"Don't you remember?" Gilbert asked, the more Oz spoke, the more he seemed to get even more worried. "The Baskervilles tried to kidnap you, they poisoned you."

"No… they didn't," he shook his head, and when his servant raised both eyebrows, he quickly continued, "We-, we were Chain-hunting. The chain attacked you! _You_-…" he choked on his own words, a soft sob escaped his mouth and he angrily wiped away fresh tears, **this wasn't fair**. _Was he still dreaming_?

"It was a dream Oz, besides, why would Pandora even let you go chain hunting?" Gilbert breathed out a soft chuckle, "You can't even run for two minutes straight," he was trying to cheer him up, Oz knew that. Yet he still couldn't help but frown. Oz could run. Sure, he didn't have the raven's stamina, but he could run longer than Alice, even Break needed time to breath once in a while. Oz had been the best runner in the whole Vesalius mansion; he had raced against almost all the servants. Even Oscar had trouble with keeping up with him.

"Are you hungry? I'll ask the servants to bring some food,"

"You were dead." He then said, his voice was soft and hoarse as he grabbed the young man's arm, the raven had been about to get up and leave, the blond was afraid that if he'd walk through that door, Oz would wake up and he didn't want that. He couldn't stand the thought. He needed his friend. "I-I… saw… it chopped off your head," his voice broke,

The raven sat down again and gently pulled his master on his lap, normally the boy would have thrown a fit, he would have demanded for him to let him go… but this time it was different, he let the young man pull him into a tight hug and he wrapped his arms tightly around the black dressed man. The boy breathed in his scent while the tears still didn't leave; they kept there, waiting for their time to come. To roll over his red cheeks. A soft breeze made him shiver and realize he was only wearing a too big shirt and his underwear. Even if this was a dream, he was going to complain to whomever didn't think about giving him some pants.

"I'm not dead," Gil then whispered in his ear while he gently stroked the boy back with his left hand, his right hand was ruffling his hair.

"You will be, _once I wake up_." Oz mumbled sadly, "I don't want to wake up…" he then admitted. "I _need_ you, Gil." If this was a dream, then why even bother keeping those selfish wishes for himself? This might be the last time he'd get to talk to the man. He really needed Gil. Without his best friend, he couldn't stand another day.

His servant was awfully quiet for a while,

"Gil?" he looked up, for a second he met those beautiful golden eyes and then suddenly Gilbert pushed him down on the bed and was on top of him, green eyes widened in surprise. "Oz," the man's hot breath caressed the teen's skin, the boy's eyes fluttered shut because god, this was the most embarrassing position ever and he still had teary eyes.

What kind of dream was this anyway?

Warm lips gently pressed against his jaw. _Oh. -That_ kind of dream**.-** He gasped, his eyes widened in horror, no, no… he was not having this dream! Gil was dead. And this is what his mind makes up to cheer him up? This was wrong. _Yet…._ Were dreams supposed to be so _realistic_? "Gi-" and that's when their lips met, the raven's lips moved gently against his slightly parted lips, a tongue gently licked his front teeth… _this_… wasn't a dream… _was it_? He thought, noticing his left hand had turned into a fist and his nails were digging into his skin, it hurt… yet he was still here. Kissing his friend. His servant. _Gil_. Another man. **What**?

"You still think you're dreaming?" Gilbert asked, kissing the corner of his mouth,

The boy gulped, "…This… is real, isn't it?" he managed to say; Oz blinked a few times, his eyes dry again.

"Very," Gilbert smiled and his mouth was getting closer towards his left ear while his right ear was being gently caressed by the young man's hand. It felt good he couldn't deny that. But _wrong_. And he was confused. Very, very confused. If this wasn't a dream, how come Gilbert was so out of character? Since when did he act like this? And most of all, since when did he allow his servant to do such things to him?!

"I'm hungry!" he finally blurted out, eyes shut tightly while a blush spread across his face,

There was shuffling and Gil probably gave him an odd look, but he then heard the man laugh and his warm breath caressed his hot skin. "Fine, I'll see if they still got some leftovers from lunch,"

"Lunch?" he asked, confused while Gilbert got off him and stood up straight, "How long did I sleep?"

"A while," he smiled, "But it's fine, your body is still weak." He walked towards the door, "I'll be back in ten minutes,"

"S…sure," he nodded while he sat up straight, he waited until Gilbert was gone and then counted to ten until he let out a breath of relief,

"What?" _the hell is going on_?!

Okay, okay. There was no reason to panic.  
He just needed to think, what was happening. What was going to happen?  
So they didn't go chain hunting yesterday?_  
_The Baskervilles had kidnapped him and poisoned him,  
But he got saved,  
A doctor came,  
He must have given him something…  
But there were still some after effects.  
Which were nightmares.  
Nightmares that were so real he'd actually believed them….  
And also, he and Gil were a couple.

He got up from the bed, "But… that doesn't make any sense," the boy breathed out, he walked towards his closet…

_"…What… is this?" _

The young Vesalius uttered in shock, before him were way too many clothes for just one person and they all were way too… what was the word for such clothing anyway?

He thought while looking almost crawling inside the large closet, looking for an outfit that wasn't like the others. He remembered this one time, after he came back from Cheshire dimension when he changed clothes in a room where Pandora had put a lot of clothes for him, it was like that room. Way too fancy and none of these clothes were loose enough to walk around in properly. Then not to talk about the shoes, he thought while looking at the many shoes with high heels. "As if wearing them at parties isn't hard enough," he muttered angrily, of course the boy knew he wasn't very tall for his age, but neither was Gil when he was fourteen! He could still grow and he certainly didn't need any stupid heels to make him feel taller. _-Not that he drank much milk in the hope to grow a bit faster._

"Thank god," he smiled when seeing the familiar outfit Break had given him the first day they met, casual clothes that didn't reveal his noble status as he wandered around the many cities they had to go to for missions.

He happily picked out the outfit and a pair of shoes before heading towards the bathroom, it seemed different from his memories but he didn't care. He really needed to wash his face. Perhaps his whole body… he sighed while undressing, noticing that his wounds from yesterday were gone. _No-, they were never there…_ god no, this didn't make any sense at all. He thought while getting in the hot shower.

It took the boy five minutes to get washed and five more minutes to put on his clothes, do something about his messy hair and brush his teeth.

When he walked back into his room Gil was there again, pouring tea for him in a cup that would fit more in Sharon's hands, then in his, but he didn't complain, he was already more than happy that he could drink something warm.

Gil glanced at him, eyes widened just a bit while he saw Oz fixing his red tie, he simply let it hang loosely around his neck, since they probably didn't have to go anywhere, therefore he also wore some simple brown indoor shoes instead of his brown leathered boots that were easy to run in, he was glad he had found these at the end as well. "That's a first seeing you wear that,"

"What do you mean?" Oz asked, confused, "I wear it a lot," he chuckled nervously while sitting back down on the bed, he looked around the room, it was messier then when he left it, yet not a single book to be found. He used to have his own shelf with books that his friends had given him, most of the books were from Oscar though, he brought them from the Vesalius manor and Sharon gave him some books from the Rainsworth family. Yet that shelf now was gone… again, he just kept his mouth shut while Gil handed him a sandwich.

"Oz?"

"Oh, sorry. What?"

"I said you don't like that outfit at all," Gilbert spoke, "You told me you hated it the moment Break handed it to you."

"What? No, I don't. These clothes are easy to move around in." he protested, giving Gil a confused look. Was this some kind of prank? The man rolled his eyes, clearly he as well seemed to get a bit irritated by this. "Fine, so you changed your mind. What, now you're gonna tell me you don't like your other clothes."

"What other clothes?"

-A sigh, Gil nodded towards the closet.

"Those are mine?" the boy complained, "Did Pandora send those? What's wrong with my normal outfits. They're all too fancy,"

Silence. "I think the poison still isn't fully out of your system,"

_There was no poison_. The boy smiled, "I guess so…" he mumbled awkwardly while finishing his sandwich, "How are the others?" he then tried,

"Who?"

"Sharon, Break, Alice?"

Another confused frown, "Sharon and Break went out,"  
_-"What? I thought Break still needed to recover?"-_  
"And why do you ask how that Stupid rabbit is- Wait… what?"

"Wait, what do you mean 'Stupid rabbit'?"

"Stupid rabbit," Gilbert looked completely lost now, "And what should Break be recovering from?"

"Alice," the boy corrected him, "He got hurt,"

"Since when do you care? No he didn't!"

Oz blinked a few times in confusion, "Gil, this is Alice. I've always cared about Alice... Wait... What?"

"You never cared about her, you guys hate each other. Even more than I hate her. _What_?"

"Gil!"

"What? Oz, honestly, I don't know what this poison did to you. But you're not acting like yourself,"

"You're…" _the one who's different._ But the blond kept his mouth shut when seeing his servant raise both eyebrows, a look a parent would give to their child, '**I dare you to finish that sentence**'. To be honest, the boy did not like that look at all. And he knew the moment Gil looked at him like that; this person wasn't the Gil he grew up with. "Nevermind," he whispered softly,

He heard the man sigh, felt how he sat down next to him. "Look, Oz… whatever it was you saw in that nightmare, it was just a dream. You don't suddenly have to chance,"

"I'm sorry," he kept forcing himself to say, Gilbert nodded and leaned down to give him a quick peck on his cheek while gently rubbing his shoulder, "You still hungry?"

"I'm tired, actually." He sighed, he actually did feel exhausted, yet at the same time he wanted to look around this place, it was different then the house he stayed in… yet looked the same.

"Well then... do you want to sleep?"

"Oh, Gil… uhm, could you bring me some books, perhaps?" he finally dared to ask, he knew it was very selfish and he already bothered this man too much, but if Gil was looking for books that meant he had some time to look around.

"Since when do you read?" was the amused question,

A moment there, Oz wanted to answer 'Gil, you know me, I love reading.' But he smiled, "I'm bored,"

"Fine, anything in particular?"

"Holy Knight?"

"Now you're suddenly into knights," he heard the man mutter while he walked away, his Gil has never done such a thing. Yet the boy didn't think too much about it, he got up from the bed and walked towards the door, slowly opening it he saw Gilbert was already out of sight. The library was to the left, so he just had to go right…

"Let's see…" he hummed softly to himself while looking inside the rooms where he heard or saw anything that could be human, "_Alice_," he need the girl. He needed to talk with her, because somehow he had made a huge mess and Gilbert couldn't help him. Perhaps Alice had heard of people becoming alive again and suddenly having different memories.

But she wasn't in the usual places she liked to be…. Did she actually even have places she liked? Usually she just sat somewhere Oz left her or followed either him or Sharon around.

The boy stopped… but that was the Alice he knew. What if… this Alice was different too? Perhaps he was stuck in some dream maze? Another dimension the Chain had made? He didn't know, but let's just say this Alice was different, she doesn't get along with anyone… where would she be? His heart felt heavy, knowing how much Alice hated to be alone. Yet, the Oz from this place somehow had been a huge dick and now he was trapped here.

Her room. He finally guessed. She never liked it, usually Alice slept in Oz's room, and his bed was big enough anyway.

The boy started running, knowing it wouldn't take long anymore until Gilbert realized he was gone.

He knocked on Alice's door and when there was no answer, he slowly opened the door, a smile appeared on his face when seeing another familiar face. The last time he saw her, she had been upset about Gil's… death. Now she was upset as well, he didn't know why. Her arms were crossed and she looked with sad eyes outside the window a frown on her face.

"Alice?" he softly spoke, closing the door behind his back.

She blinked a few times with her violet eyes, before turning her head to face him. Perhaps she had expected someone else, it was written all over her face that she did not except him in her room. Her eyes hardened and she looked as if she was ready to attack. "What do you want, _brat_?" she snapped,

Ah. That hurt. Hearing her talk to him like that. "I…uhm, I was wondering…"

"Oh wow, he can think." She snorted and laughed arrogantly, "Shouldn't your boyfriend do the thinking for you, don't want to mess up your fragile brain."

She clearly did not expect for him to chuckle awkwardly, her whole body froze for a second before she relaxed a bit and gazed at him with confusion. "Look, I… don't know where we went wrong," he softly spoke and took a few steps closer, "But, let me make it up to you?"

"What for, _peasant_?" her voice was harsh, but kinder than at first.

"I want to be friends," he answered honestly, he knew how sensitive the girl was to lies, she could smell it from miles away, so of course her eyes widened in shock when she could not find any trace to tell her he was lying. "Are you pitying me?" the chain, then asked, her eyes narrowing. "Is that it? Honestly, I think you're more pathetic than I am."

"No, Alice-"

"This is my room. Leave." And when he kept still for a second or two she angrily got up and picked up a pillow from the ground, "Leave!" she screamed and threw the pillow at the boy who was just fast enough to duck away, so that it instead landed right into the face of the young man who had just entered the room as well.

"Oh look, speak of the devil." The girl huffed angrily, "Your hero is here to save you," she turned her back towards them,

"Alice,"Oz whispered, no, no... This was an awful dream. How could this happen? He needed Alice just as much as he needed Gilbert.

"Oz, honestly." Gilbert rolled his eyes and grabbed the boy's arm, dragging him out of the room and throwing the door shut with such a loud sound that the teen was sure the whole mansion heard it. "I honestly wonder what's going inside that head of yours. What's with the whole character change anyway?" the man muttered angrily under his breath,

"Gil,"

"What?" he stopped and glared at the boy,

"You're hurting me,"

The Nightray looked down at the wrist, he had been holding, he was holding it tightly. He let go and an apology was on the tip of his tongue, but he stopped when seeing the expression on Oz's face.

"I'm sorry," the blond spoke and glanced at the two first volumes of the Holy Knight series in Gil's left hand, "I should have listened. I'm sorry," lying and doing whatever this Gil wanted him to do would be the best solution at the moment. "I guess the poison got to my head," he gently grabbed the two books, "Thank you," he smiled kindly, "I'll go back to my room,"

"Oz… I'm sorry,"

"No, don't be. It's fine,"

_A sigh_. "Would you like me to come along with you?"

"No, it's fine."

"Don't go anywhere else again,"

"I won't. Promise." He smiled and walked back towards his room, he had started to feel better, knowing his friend was still alive… but now he felt only sadness and confusion. For now, he guessed he just needed to play along for a while.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is probably the longest chapter I have ever written! Like you guys have no idea, I just kept going on and _on and on and on and on and on... _So yes, I would totally love it if you guys reviewed in this chapter to tell me what you think because I worked god damn hard on it! (Please?) **

**I don't own Pandora Hearts. And if I did, we all wouldn't be crying right now because Break is _fucking_ death! (No, he isn't! He just fainted!) **

**Please read the AN at the end of this chapter as well,**

* * *

"Do couples usually do this?"

Oz asked while gazing at Gilbert, whom was helping him with his tie, in fact the young man had helped him with the whole outfit. It was strange to let someone pick out his outfit for the day and help him get dressed, the boy at first didn't even had to the courage to say he didn't like the fancy clothes the man chose for him and rather had something like the outfit he wore yesterday. The young man had given him a suspicious look, but then nodded and got something more casual, it wasn't anything like his favorite outfit but it was better than nothing. The last time a servant helped him getting dressed was years ago by now, the moment he started going through puberty he rather kept everyone outside of his room until he was ready to go. It wasn't that he was embarrassed about people seeing his body, sure there were a lot of things he didn't like about his small body, but that didn't really embarrass him, it had just started bothering him that people had to wake up early every morning just to help getting a spoiled brat get dressed. He rather told the servant that helped him to wake up a bit later; he would take care of his own outfit.

Yet this Gil had been different, he insisted that he'd help Oz with changing clothes. So the boy had let him, he had seen the slight frown on his face when his gaze fell on the seal… the boy had followed his gaze, prepared to say it was fine… but eyes had widened in shock when seeing there was no seal in his chest. He had gotten used to it so yesterday didn't even pay much attention to it, but now… there was a large scar on his chest that looked like that the seal, yes… but for the rest it was gone. "Does it still hurt?" the man had asked while gently caressing the skin, to which the boy had shuttered, he wasn't used to those touches at all. And knowing that he and Gil were a couple made things a bit more embarrassing. The other Oz would have probably laughed his ass off because of his embarrassment, yet the blond boy found he did not care.

Which left us to where they were now, the boy was sitting fully dressed on his bed and the raven was just ready with fixing his tie, which only left him to putting on the teen's shoes. And it looked like Gil would help him with that as well. "Do what?"

"Help each other get dressed," he spoke while following Gil's hands with eyes as he gently grabbed the boy's feet and put on the indoor shoes he wore yesterday.

"No, they usually don't," the young man breathed out a chuckle while he smirked just slightly, putting on the other shoe. "It's because I am still your servant as well,"

"That… -really?" the young Vesalius asked a bit confused, "Even though we're… you and I… uhm… are together?"

Gilbert was quiet for a while, before he smiled kindly and gently ruffled Oz's hair. "Hmm, well of course I guess it's changed a bit, our master-servant relationship…"

"How so?" he asked curiously while Gilbert stood up,

"Like; you're the one usually begging instead of me," was the mischievous answer, and the man started laughing when Oz's face became beat-red. "What's with the questions though? Don't you remember what it's like being in a relationship? It's like you need to accept we're together all over again."

"Perhaps I've never really accepted the fact that someone could love me like that…" eyes widened in surprise, ah… had he just said that aloud? _Please don't tell me I just said that._ Sadly, he did. Because the next thing he knew, Gilbert sat down next to him and made the boy look him straight in the eyes by lifting up his chin with his pointer finger. His eyes were puzzled and concerned, "What makes you think that?"

"I-I…" he looked around the room, "I… well, it's just… I've never been one of the kindest."

"Oz…" Gil sighed, "Is this because of the others?"

"Huh?" he looked up in confusion, what about his friends?

"Look," the man spoke, "I know they said some awful things to you before the Baskervilles came, but honestly don't let it bother you. If they can't accept who you really are, then why even bother trying to befriend them?"

"Wait, what…" the boy softly spoke and gently grabbed Gil's hand that had been holding his chin, it started bothering him now and he already started having trouble with breathing, because he remembered. _Alice hated him_… and, "Break and Sharon… hate me as well?" he breathed out softly, lowering his eyes to the ground, was this a nightmare? He got Gil back, but now his two other dear friends hated him so much that the other him as well must have been upset about it.

"It's not your fault. They're picky about who they like, that stupid rabbit only likes Sharon anyway."

He gulped and nodded, offering the raven a weak smile, his eyes kept dry yet they were burning and he had a huge lump in his throat.

"I'm guessing you'd like to go out for breakfast now, how about that one that sells pancakes, you liked the cook there, right?" This Gil was so kind, just as kind as the Gil he knew… but this was a complete different side of the young man he had never been able to see, and oh how lucky the other Oz was that he could see this side of him. He smiled softly, the other Oz was fortunate and unsuccessful at the same time and he felt sad about that. "No, it's fine. Besides, I can still talk to you, right?"

"Of course," Gil nodded and gently caressed the boy's cheek with his thumb while leaning down to capture his lips, Oz shut his eyes and trembled just slightly, not sure if he should kiss back or not… it felt still very strange to kiss his best friend. But if this place really wasn't his, then it would just be better to try and blend in without making himself look too suspicious, therefore he did not pull away yet he didn't find the courage to kiss the man back.

"Well then," Gil's breathed gently caressed his skin and the boy's eyes fluttered open while he just gazed at him holding hands with the young man, a slight blush on his face. "Shall we? The others are probably already waiting," he smiled when all he got as response was the teen awkwardly nodding, so he pulled his hand back and stood up, walked towards the door, keeping it open for his lover.

"You know, I've been thinking…" Gil spoke while they walked through the long hallway towards the stairs, "It has been a while since we've spent some alone time, would you like to go to my apartment for a few days?"

"When?" the boy asked curiously, he noticed that this Gilbert didn't walk at his normal speed, which was faster than Oz's, he actually walked at the same speed as the young blond. Even though his legs were longer, "Whenever you feel like it,"

"Just… the two of us?"

"Of course, who else?"

The boy bit his tongue while glancing outside one of the windows they walked past, seeing that it was a cloudy day… so even here it would still rain?

"Though it might have to wait a while, your family and some friends like to visit you."

"Why?"

"Well, of course I told them about what happened." Gil spoke, walking downstairs, "They were worried and now they want to see you, you've been sleeping for a while you know and no one knew when you'd wake up,"

"Oh… well do you know when they'll visit?" the boy asked as he stopped in front of the door of the dining room; Gil's hand was resting against the doorknob as they spoke,

"Aida and the others are arriving today late at night from Latowidge academy, so I'm guessing only-"

"-_Eating with us_? Ugh. Now I'm not hungry anymore."

The raven let out an annoyed sigh before opening the door, glaring immediately at the girl who had just talked, he was followed by a very sad looking boy behind him whom noticed that the young lady was just too late to hide a smile… he frowned just slightly, this woman wasn't Lady Sherly… yet she looked a lot like… "Sharon-chan,"

"Good morning, Oz-kun."

"_Chan_?" Break muttered and raised an eyebrow while glancing at Alice, the girl shrugged while stuffing her mouth with meat, "Told you he suddenly changed," the brunette muttered,

"Stop that," Gilbert snapped while he took a seat across from the albino and told Oz to sit down between the young man and Alice, the raven had already pulled the chair a bit closer to him and the chain had already shuffled as far away as possible from the seat while Sharon scolded her about her awful manners.

"So, it seems that our young master has taken the time to honor us with his presence," the albino spoke from behind his newspaper, a half eaten piece of cake on his plate.

"Break," Gil said through gritted teeth,

"Oh my, touchy in the morning I see." The hatter hummed,

"Enough Break, we should be happy that Oz-kun is safe," the young lady that was Sharon spoke, her voice sounded mature and the boy was happy to know her body could still age yet at the same time felt sad about it, it had been something his friend had always wanted…. But knowing she was no longer the cute girl he liked to flirt was odd to adapt to.

"Oh, happy." Alice snorted while asking a servant for a second plate, "I felt more happy when he didn't honor us with his presence,"

"I… am sorry?" the boy spoke softly, he glanced at the girl, Alice simply glared at him in return, her eyes slightly narrowed, she didn't even look up when the servant handed her back her plate.

"'Sorry'. Since when did you put that in your vocabulary?" Break asked with a mocking curious tone,

"Break. Enough." Gil raised his voice now, when Break didn't say anything to defend himself, but simply continued reading the young man glanced at his lover, a worried look on his face. "Oz, try eating something."

But how could he eat? The boy wondered as he gazed at his plate with untouched food, the lump in his throat grew even bigger and he had to gasp for breath but felt like a complete idiot doing so. His eyes were burning again. His chest felt heavy… the boy felt like he would collapse soon. "I'm… sorry," he whispered again,

"You don't have to be," Gil's voice was kind,

Yet hearing both Break and Alice snort at the same time didn't help, and Sharon peacefully finished her breakfast. She might try to seem nice towards Oz because she was raised like that; it was obvious she felt disgusted just to be in his presence. What had the other Oz done to make these people hate him so much? The boy took a deep, shuddering breath while trying to calm his fast beating heart down. His whole body was trembling.  
He needed to breathe.  
He was suffocating.

"Oz?"

"Oi, brat. He's been talking to you." Alice snapped, annoyed because no matter how many times Gil had called the boy's name he hadn't responded.

The teen glanced at the one and only person in this room that cared about him, the one whom he thought he had lost forever. He didn't know what he had wished for at that time, and while he was more than happy to have his most beloved friend back, he could not stand the price he had to pay for it as well. "Sorry?"

"Stop saying that word, Oz. It's fine." Gilbert spoke while gently placing a hand on his slender shoulder; the boy glanced at it before shrugging it off. "I'm not hungry, if you'd excuse me…" he softly spoke while getting up from his chair, "I'd like to go to the library." He felt how his friend's hand left his shoulder and he actually wanted to grab it and put it back there, but like he wasn't spoiled enough already. So he simply left, almost tripping over his chair… eyes still burning as he almost ran towards the library. It wasn't often that he did this; usually when he was upset he'd rather be anywhere alone, but sitting somewhere in a corner would probably only make things worse. He knew he should be happy, Gil was still alive! Yet, he couldn't.

So the boy chose another method to cheer him up… or, more likely, make him forget. He sighed while wandering around the large library, heading towards the shelf with the adventure books. The other Oz had never seen the beauty of reading, yet that did not mean that he himself couldn't see it. He loved reading, before Gil became his servant it had been the only thing that kept him amused long enough, Aida was too young to play the games he liked to play, she couldn't run fast enough, she couldn't climb in trees, couldn't learn how to ride a horse… and he had always seen his sister as someone that needed to be protected rather than teasing her.  
The Holy Knight series were his favorite, but there were many other great books as well. He liked the one with adventure the most, he liked to look for treasures and crawl into the skin of the hero. And right now, it was something the Vesalius needed the most, so he grabbed 'Treasure Island' off the shelves and sat down on the giant comfortable sofa… the boy started reading and for a while everything was fine, he was in a completely other world where no one could hurt him…

.

When Oz finished the book after two hours reading, he wasn't very surprised to see no one had come looking for him. "I wonder where Gil is now," he mumbled tiredly while letting his chin rest on his knees, the blond glanced at the clock, he had been reading for two hours or so… it was eleven in the morning now. Somehow he had to get through this day without letting anyone notice he didn't belong here… well, that wasn't really hard if almost everyone hated you.

"-Don't want another love lesson," he heard Alice complain in the distance, they must have entered the library as well now. The young heir hoped they didn't find him here; it would probably drop their mood. Ah… that hurt to think about.

"It's for your own good, Alice. How else will you know if someone's flirting with you like the previous time?" this boy smiled softly, so some things never change huh.

"I was hoping he'd give me meat," the girl sighed and he could hear her pushing a chair away and sitting down on it, "Say Sharon," the girl then spoke, her voice a bit softer. "Don't you think that idiot is acting different?"

"By idiot you mean Oz-kun?" the young lady asked, curious, yet she didn't scold the young girl for calling the boy an idiot. The blond sighed and slowly got up, making sure to not make any sound. He was close to the other exit, if he could just leave without them noticing than he didn't have to hear how much they hated him… yet, he couldn't help but be interested as well.

"I guess a near death experience must have made him think of all the awful things he did?"

"He came to visit me yesterday,"

"Did he?"

The boy could already imagine Alice shrugging nonchalantly while he leaned against the bookshelves as close as possible to hear their conversation, he'd probably regret doing this yet kept there, not even knowing that he was holding his breath.

"Well, not that I care," Alice quickly added, the boy smiled softly while breathing out through his nose, _that had sounded like she was lying._ "It's just… he feels different,"

"How so?" Sharon had completely forgotten about whatever love lesson they were going to have, the young lady was more interested in whatever the chain had to tell about a certain Vesalius boy who was standing only ten meters further away.

"When he entered my room yesterday… I don't know," Alice spoke softly, "He also has this sad expression on his face, he usually has this dumb look on his face… yet now he simply seems sad about something and he doesn't have a dumb expression anymore."

"Alice, don't tell me you're falling in love for him?" Sharon chuckled, "You sound like you've been paying a bit too much attention to him."

"Wh-what! Don't talk about such rubbish, I'd never fall in love with that brat!"

"Hm, what else is there?"

There was a silence, "He seems to not remember where he went wrong,"

"You think the poison messed with his mind,"

"That's what bothering me the most," the brunette admitted, "He doesn't smell like the poison,"

There was a silence, and the boy was pretty sure Sharon was gazing at Alice now with wide eyes, "It's like… he's a completely different person."

"And you figured that out in just those two days?" the Rainsworth then carefully asked, "Wow, Alice." She sounded truly impressed, "You really are a wonderful girl,"

"O-Of course!" Alice said while laughing nervously, she tried to make it sound arrogant but even Sharon saw through it,

"How about I'll talk with Break about what you just discovered?"

"Yeah, go tell the clown."

"I'll come back later,"

"See you at lunch,"

Oz sighed, he heard how Sharon walked away and Alice kept in her place. The blond decided to wait until the brunette as well left, yet sadly… she did not. "I know you're there," her voice, then rang through the large room. The chain stood up and walked towards the place the small boy was hiding, "What are you gonna do? Tell your precious lover that I gossip about him. You stupid se-"

"I'm sorry," the boy blurted out and stepped out of his spot, holding both hands up, he was ready to get kicked and avoided Alice's eyes, "I-I didn't mean to overhear… uhm, well… yeah, I was just reading and heard you-"

"You…" Alice's eyes widened,

"Uhm… yeah, sorry?" the boy apologized again, "I-I should probably go, it's fine." He wanted to turn around and leave, if not for the person hating him stopping him, "Wait," she raised her voice and took slow steps towards him. "You've heard what I said, didn't you?"

"Yes…"

He saw how the girl sniffed and offered her a smile, "I didn't get poisoned," he lowered his hands and turned around to face her again, when seeing the confusion written over her face he quickly continued, this was Alice. Surely she'd understand, if she'd known he wasn't anything like the other Oz, they might become friends again. He couldn't stand the thought of his sun hating him. "I am not from his place either," he then said, "I… _we_ were chain hunting, we fought against this chain 'Wish'…" the words rolled over his tongue and he kept talking, the moment he'd stopped he was sure there would be no second chance for him to make things right between the brunette and him. "…And I… the chain attacked Gil, I couldn't stand the thought of losing my best friend and I-… I might have made a wish, I can't even remember what I said," he avoided eye contact, realizing how unbelievable he sounded but it was the truth, and Alice could feel it when he was lying. …"Anyhow, that's when I woke up… here, and everything looks the same but it's different. Like, apparently Gil never died and I am his lover now," he breathed out a sad chuckle, _I didn't even know if someone could actually ever fall in love with me_, "And Sharon is a full grown woman while where I come from she's trapped in the body of a thirteen year old, and Break is supposed to be blind… and appearnatly... Everyone hates me." His voice was soft,

.

"You met Wish?" Alice asked slowly, "And… you're not from here?"

"I think so,"

"That explains everything," the brunette breathed out and she almost ran towards the boy, only stopping when there was one foot between them. "By 'We' you meant us two? You can actually fight in the other world?"

"I probably still can in this world," Oz awkwardly answered, "I mean… I'm not the best fighter, but I know how to use a gun and how to fight with a sword if that's what you mean,"

"You can use a gun?" Alice sounded excited about that,

"And it was the three of us, by the way… You, Gil… and I,"

"Gil…" Alice's tone was hard. "Wait, you said you aren't a couple in your world?"

He shook his head,

Alice nodded and walked around a bit… her hands resting on her hips, by the way she acted she must have heard this story before, this person as well came from the abyss… surely she has met the chain as well in the abyss as well like the Alice he knew. "We… We're friends," the brunette then asked softly, her eyes bright with hope. "You never called me a useless piece of trash?"

"I'd never," the boy felt horrible, just thinking about it. "I told Jack in Cheshire's dimension that you're as important as the sun to me," he quickly added,

"Jack?" Alice asked, confused,

"Yes, Jack. Jack Vesalius, the one from your memories."

"I don't have any memories,"

The boy froze when hearing this, "How do you mean?" he asked, "Of course you have, we've been looking for them! But Break had to destroy your memories because otherwise Vincent would kill Sharon-chan,"

"Why would Vincent do that?"

"He didn't want anyone to know what happened 100 years ago,"

The more he said, the more confused Alice looked. So he simply shut-up, "It-it's complicated." He then admitted, "But what about the Pocket watch? It carried one of your memories. It's where I thought you'd tried to kill me,"

"Oh, I've tried to kill you." Alice said bluntly, making the boy wince. "Oh, sorry." She said while frowning a bit,

"I-it's fine, I guess I must have deserved it,"

"You almost got me killed," she nodded,

"I-I did?"

"Yes, it was the first and last time we went chain hunting, Zwei almost got us killed. But it made you find out that Raven was actually Gil,"

"So we did to go the place where I held my coming of age ceremony?"

"No, we did not…" the brunette shook her head,

"Oh…" he sighed, he looked around the library, hoping that no one was overhearing this very odd conversation. He didn't even know where they were going with this, but he only felt more than relieved to see Alice believed him right on the spot. "We'll have to go there, there's a graveyard there… with a pocket watch and it holds one of your memories."

"One of my memories!" Alice sounded very eager when hearing this, she smiled. "Then we should go now!" the chain said while grabbing his wrist,

"We can't!" the boy stopped her, "You hate me… right?"

"Well, I hate the other Oz… but you're different," she spoke, "But… you're not him." when seeing the sad smile she got in return, her eyes widened just a bit and the hint of a blush appeared on her face,

"Well… I guess we could ask Gil to come with us, but… I was wondering,"

"What?" the girl sighed, having accepted the fact that she had to wait a bit longer for her memory.

"I uhm…. I told you I am not from here… I'm kind of trying to sort of…" he sighed, "Blend in? Could you… help me?"

"Oh yeah, sure, I've spent enough time glaring at you, I guess I could tell you what you need to know," she looked around for a place to sit but stopped when hearing her contractor's stomach growl, a smirk appeared on her girly face. "Well, I can't let my manservant starve now, can I?" her smirk turned into a smile when seeing the grin she got from the young heir, she didn't know what it was that made him so happy but it made her all warm inside as well. So instead of sitting down somewhere in the library, they left to get an early lunch.

"So… what would you like to know then?"

"Uhm… I don't know? How did we meet? Did you show up at my coming of age ceremony?"

"No, we met in the abyss." Alice answered while they were walking, they both made sure that neither Sharon, Break or Gilbert would appear from somewhere. "You got attacked by some chain and I saved you," her voice was like how she used to talk to him, nothing harsh… it made the boy smile and feel all warm inside, knowing that Alice no longer thought he was the other Oz. But convincing Alice was easy because she knew 'Wish', she knew when someone was lying… she had no reason to not believe him. She had already figured something out… which meant Break must have already figured it out as well. It would only be a matter of time before Sharon would know as well… the only person who wouldn't know would be Gil… eyes became sad when realizing this. Was he going to lie to his best friend?

"What happened then?"

"Well…" Alice sighed, "We made a contract, we actually… got along… until you found out Raven was actually Gil… then you no longer needed me."

"I am so sorry…"

"Hmm… yeah, well from there on you just kind of ignored me. Pandora tried sending us on missions, but you were just useless we had more trouble with protecting you then with fighting… and then Pandora found a way to break the contract without killing us or sending us back to the abyss… so we removed it."

"Which means…."

"I can no longer use my powers,"

He stopped when hearing this, "H-How do you mean?"

Alice stopped as well, they were almost at the kitchen, the scent of bread made in the oven filled their noses and made the boy's mouth water,

"I can still feel them, inside of me…" Alice explained, a vague expression on her face, "But I can't use them, no matter how hard I try."

"Then… we'll have to make another contract."

"Pandora would never allow it, neither would your lover."he noticed how she said the word 'lover as if it was the most disgusting thing she had ever witnessed.

Oz frowned, of course… that made sense, the Oz from this place was weak and he still needed Gil to help him get dressed, the other him was basically a spoiled brat. Well, happy to know there was a way to be even more useless than he already was. "Then… I guess we'll have to make one without Pandora finding out." He spoke.

There was a long silence, Alice just gazed at him as if he had just told her something unbelievable, and he guessed it must indeed seem unlikely for him to say such a thing. The other Oz had dropped her as soon as he found Gil, she wasn't used to him being this kind to her and actually giving her what _she _wanted. Then, a smirk appeared on her face. "I'd like that," she said and turned around again, walking straight into the kitchen, demanding the cook to prepare lunch for her and her manservant that they could eat somewhere else.

The servants gave the pair some strange looks, not used to seeing them happily chatting together like that, well, mostly Oz was talking, his voice soft, so that only she could hear how he talked about the Alice he knew. He told her how they met, what they've gone thought together…

And when their lunch was ready they headed towards Alice's room and kept there, talking about Oz's life from another world… and then finally, after an hour or so talking and still no one had found them the boy decided it was time to ask more about the other Oz... Well, mostly about his relationship with Gil, as long as the others hated him they wouldn't be paying much attention to him.

"Let's see…" Alice hummed while gazing outside at the cloudy sky, "You're usually very touchy around Gil,"

"O-oh," the boy blushed softly,

Alice made a disgusted face, "Hmm, and you guys make a lot of odd noises when you're alone in a room."

"I-I-what…?!"

"Well, yes, I once walked past a room where you two were sitting and heard you guys talking… well you were moaning a lot, so I thought that seaweed head was hurting you… but you begged for more so I didn't save you. Perhaps I should have?"

The boy gulped, "N-no, uhm… please tell me you left then?"

"Yes, Sharon laughed, though when I told her."

Oh god. The boy groaned,

"No, it didn't sound like that…" Alice spoke, giving him a confused look; obviously she didn't understand why Oz's face was suddenly very red. The boy scowled a bit, then coughed awkwardly while gazing at the now empty plate that not a while ago had been filled with sandwiches, "Uhm… did you and Sharon-chan ever talk about… what people do when they're in love?" he asked quietly,

"They kiss and hug and say '_I love you_', a lot."

"Y-yes, of course… they do that… uhm, but like… ever heard of… uhm… A, B, C?"

"The alphabet?" she frowned, "I'm confused, what does the alphabet have to do with love?"

The boy chuckled softly, god he was happy to hear her talk like that. "Never mind, you should ask Sharon-chan. Don't tell her I told you though, she'd call me a wolf and rabbit clothes."

"When did she ever call you that?"

"When you told her we kissed," he blushed a little and offered her a shy smile,

"When did we kiss?" Alice asked confused,

"Oh, you didn't do it in this world?"

"Obviously not," she shook her head,

Oz chuckled, "When we made the contract," he spoke, "You actually tricked me into it," when seeing the amused smirk on her face, he smiled as well while leaning against the window, "You had blood in your mouth and to make an illegal contract, the contractor has to drink the chain's blood… you must have thought it was the best way."

"I like that way better than smearing some blood on a snotty brat," she laughed, and her laughter continued when Oz joined her,

Though their moment of joy stopped when someone knocked on Alice's bedroom door, making them both look up and both thought way too late about letting Oz hide. Both Sharon and Break entered the room, eyes wide open when seeing the two teenagers happily sitting together. They both sat on the windowsill, Alice with her legs crossed and Oz with his legs drawn close to his chest. Both very relaxed in each others presence.

"Oh my, my… don't let Gilbert-kun see this, _young master_. He'd might get jealous." Break snickered in a mocking tone while entering the room, "Already getting tired of him?"

"Clown," Alice narrowed his eyes, a clear warning for the albino to shut his mouth.

Sharon glanced at the two, a confused look on her face. "Gilbert is looking for you, Oz-kun."

"Oh, right…" the blond nodded, he glanced at Alice, seeing the look on her face that was very easy to read, she didn't want Oz to leave. And neither did he… "I should go then-"

"Oz!" Gilbert stood in the door opening, _or Gil could come to me. _He winced.

"Oh, now things are getting interesting." Break snickered, he glanced at the girl sitting across from a very nervous looking Oz, the two made eye contact and Oz didn't even had to guess why Break was here, Sharon had talked about what Alice said about the young heir and he'd wanted to discuss it with the girl herself.

"Why are you here?" Gil then asked confused,

"Having lunch with Alice, obviously." Oz answered and jumped off the windowsill, he mouthed a 'talk to you later' to Alice and the girl nodded while watching how the blond walked towards his 'lover', even though she knew the boy didn't have any romantic for this man. The young heir smiled kindly at a very troubled looking Gil,

"What's going?" the young man then asked,

"Obviously we're all plotting an evil plan against you,"

"Haha, funny." Gil rolled his eyes,

"No, we're not," Oz chuckled, trying to remember what else Alice told him. Apparently he was always very touchy around the young man, while in his head there was a big fight on the outside he seemed very confident when gently grabbing Gil's hand and gazing at it. Yet it did not convince the young man that everything was still normal, he guessed it must be strange to see his lover happily together with the girl he hated, seeing from how he had already been very bad blending in Gil was starting to connect a few things together. He couldn't let that happen… so the boy awkwardly bit his lip before wrapping his free arm around Gil's neck and pulling him down, pressing his lips against the young man's… he felt how he relaxed… _Bingo. _"You were looking for me?" he smiled, amused at the man, seeing a hint of the Gil he knew in those eyes…

"A-ah yeah…"

"Oh please, get a room you two." Break rolled his single eye, yet he gave Alice a curious look when hearing her make an amused sound, she'd obviously knew how awkward this all was for Oz.

"You're just jealous," Oz said back before he could stop himself, he then quickly left with Gil.

"How uncute," he heard Break say before they were out of hear distance.

.

"Oz," his 'lover' then stopped,

"Ah, um… right, sorry I just left like-"  
ah, of course. He should have known the young man had already forgotten about that, next thing he knew those lips were pressed against his again and he was pushed against a wall, well they were far away from Alice's room and around this time of the day servants usually didn't wander in the hallways that lead towards the bedrooms, still it was strange to just kiss here in the open. Was it even acceptable for two males being in this kind of relationship anyway? He wondered while opening his mouth after Gil licked his lips, a soft sigh escaped his pink lips… when it came to this kind of stuff, the only experience he got was from books and a kiss that he had shared with Alice to make an illegal contract. So yes, the boy didn't really knew what to do other then let Gil lead the kiss and follow… his eyes were half open, god the boy was lucky Gil's eyes were closed… _Wonder what other me would do about now._ He thought, and then decided to just wrap his arms around the man's neck again like the girls always did in the books, the girls usually pressed their whole body against the hero, Oz just pulled his servant a bit closer, was he the only one getting uncomfortable? Gil seemed to be perfectly at ease with giving him an open mouthed kiss… how long was this going to last anyway? He wondered…

Finally, the raven pulled back and pulled him in a hug, "You actually made me worried though," he whispered in the teen's ear,

"How come?" the boy's could still feel the man's lips against his, this was normal?

"You got hurt the last time you wandered off like that,"

"Oh… I'm sorry," he softly whispered, hugging him even tighter… the boy took a deep breath, closing his eyes… "I… love you," he then softly whispered, he felt a guilty as soon as those words left his mouth, sure he loved Gil. But as a friend… Gil misunderstood this for something completely different, yet it made the young man happy and next thing he knew he felt warm lips press against his and this time the boy did close his eyes. He guessed he had to get used to his… better start liking it. He should probably ask Alice if she could ask Sharon how to kiss properly.

Yet, he couldn't shake off this very awful feeling that had come the moment he had said 'I love you', he felt awful and by now it was probably the worst lie he had ever told... The word Filthy got shouted somewhere in the back of his head. While he smiled at a very happy looking Gil.

* * *

**So, this story chapter... Kind of bothers me. I got a bit carried away... And made Alice and Oz make up very fast, because the boy can't stand the thought of all people, Alice hates him. She's still his sun, the most important person in his life, next to Gil, So yes, I made them make up as fast as possible... Also, because Alice is very lonely in this world, and Oz knows this so he wants to explain to her that from now on he'll be there and she'll never have to be lonely again. **

**But perhaps I'm going a bit too fast? I'm not sure, so please tell me if I perhaps should change this chapter a bit and make them become friends a few chapters later? **


	4. Chapter 4

**Please read:**

**To be honest, even though all the motivation for this story I'm kind of upset for posting this. My previous chapter didn't get much attention... Actually, this whole story doesn't get much attention. Not that it really matters, I know the reason why I'm still writing is still for my own satisfaction and for the people that enjoy reading my work. But it still upsets me, cause like... I worked very hard on the previous chapter. Trying to make Oz adapt to a situation that he could never even imagine. You have no idea how much research I do just to make this as right as possible while keeping in mind how to make the characters Out Of Character yet still add familiar things in their personalities.  
Like, just imagine you making a drawing when you're around five and you worked very hard on it and you show your mother, and all she does is say 'That's cute, honey,' but she doesn't even look at it. Well, authors can feel like that as well. Now you may think I'm whining and acting like a spoiled brat, but really... It is very demotivating to see people don't review.  
So for those who did Review, nekoloveer, Ozbert fangirl and Manami Nightray, you guys really made me smile. Every review of the three of you brightened up my day, I actually smiled while reading your reviews and even laughed. It really does something, to see people actually take their time to tell you they like the story. I like to read reviews, simple reviews like 'Good story' are fine, but long reviews where you tell me I made a spelling error, or where you tell me how much you love what this character said because... Or a review where you want me to answer to and start a discussion, if there's something bothering you, tell me(But keep in mind I am still just a person and don't get rude,), really... Anything is fine. They really make my day, you have no idea how much it motivates an author.  
I am not only talking about myself anymore, I've seen a lot of authors being too shy, or not wanting to sound selfish with those thoughts. We authors love it when readers try to talk with us, we really do. **

**Enough of my rambling, I've been a bit down lately, thanks to a lot of stress and since this is the only site left were only my sister knows who I am, I like to nag a lot on this site.**

**I worked very hard on this story, so pressing that 'favorite' or 'Follow' button, or leave a review, it makes me super motivated to write. So far, this is my favorite story that I have ever written, you can see this because of how long my chapters are... I've never written so much for just one chapter. **

**I do not own Pandora Hearts. **

**P,s: I am still looking for people who take requests? -Not that anyone is interested after sounding like such a whiny bitch.**

* * *

"I love you."

_Those words had just left his mouth and he could already feel the awful taste in his mouth, realizing he had whispered such an awful lie to the person he cared about so much made the small boy grimace in disgust. He could already hear his father's voice ringing through his head, calling him filthy.  
_

Filthy. Filthy. Filthy._  
_

_And the boy couldn't agree more with the man, he felt lower than scum for telling that, for years the boy had longed for someone to say '_I love you_,' to find a person whom he could say it in return too. And the first time he ever spoke those words were as a lie. _For what_? Just so that he could _blend in_? _Adapt_ to the situation. Perhaps it was just better if he spit everything out. Alice had believed him, why wouldn't the others believe him? The boy knew why, because he had already taken the role as the other 'Oz'. If he turned back now, it would mean having to admit to Gil that he had been kissing someone else instead of the person he loved. The young man would hate him for that. Losing Gil had already been bad enough; he couldn't let the raven hate him. _

"_Oz." _

_Turning around, there was nothing. Only a never ending darkness, green eyes glanced to their left and right and the boy then took a step closer to from where he thought the voice of his servant had come from, he then stopped. The boy gagged… an awful scent filled his nose, _blood_. Looking down, eyes widened in horror when seeing the large pool of blood underneath him. "Wha-" a bloody hand grabbed his ankle and the boy started screaming, _someone help me.

"Oz!"

"_Gil?!" the boy fought against the bloody hand, but tripped, he prepared himself for falling in the pool of blood, but instead felt hard on stone, rain was pouring down from the sky and the small teen could see his own reflection in a large puddle of rain water. "Watch out!" Gil shouted and the boy was just in time to roll away from the large hand, _

**No**_  
_

_When realizing where he was the boy quickly got up on his feet, his body didn't listen and he stumbled… almost falling back. But he couldn't fall, Gil had to be saved! "Gil-" and then it happened. Once again the boy had to watch how his best friend got killed… blood dripping out of his slightly parted lips, broken eyes gazing at the boy. "No!" he screamed…_

No.

Someone,

Make it stop!

.

"Oz wake up!"

The young heir gasped for air as he opened his eyes, eyes burning, had he been crying?  
It was still way too early to get up. Neither of the two males paid attention to this of course, Gil was leaning over the small boy with a very worried look on his face while the blond still needed time to register it had all been a nightmare. He slowly lifted up both his hands and touched the raven's face, "_Gil_…" he breathed out, relief hidden in his voice.

"Yes, it's me. Are you okay? You seemed to be in serious pain," his voice was kind and soft, he felt how Oz's hands left his face and instead the teen tried to sit up straight, so the man pulled away and sat on his knees. Golden eyes watched how the heir looked around the room. "I'm… in_ your_ room," was that his voice?

"You fell asleep on the sofa so I put you here,"

The blond nodded, couples usually did this. This wasn't all that strange, as long as they were simply sharing the same bed, and it seemed that his servant had left Oz's shirt and shorts on. That helped.

"Did you have another nightmare?"

"Y-yeah," he nodded, his throat hurt and his voice sounded hoarse. The boy quickly wiped away the tears, god he felt ashamed of crying like that. Oz, then took a deep breath, "I'm sorry… did I wake you up?"

"It's fine," Gil smiled and gently placed a hand on his shoulder, "Would you like to drink something?"

Gulping, the boy nodded. He was so tired and his body begged for him to go back to sleep, but he didn't want that nightmare to continue so he watched how Gil got out of bed and followed him in the bathroom linked to room. The raven turned on the light and apologized when seeing his lover' blink a few times fast… the light hurt.

"Sit down," he spoke and grabbed the glass of water that always stood at the sink, everyday a servant replaced it when they were cleaning up the room. The boy sat down on the edge of the large bathtub and gazed at Gil's back, he wore a simple loose shirt and black pants that were perhaps a size too big, something to easily move around in.

"Here, drink up." The man handed him the cold water and watched how the small teen eagerly drank it up, "Would you like to talk about it?"

"I can't remember it anymore," the teen easily lied, how could he forget? The blood, that awful lie… it made him flinch when those words rang through his head. And the raven noticed this, yet kept quiet. He furrowed his brows a bit before taking the glass back and placing it on the sink again. "This is the second nightmare in only two days,"

_3d_. The boy thought, but didn't correct him, the previous night he had slept in his own bed, in a room that looked like his but wasn't, there he had also dreamt of Gil's death. He had actually wanted to scream at that time, but felt lucky now that he hadn't. His friend didn't need to worry about him anymore. "It's not good for your body," the man then said, "It'll stress you out, talking helps." He placed a comforting hand on the boy's lap while kneeling down so that he was the same eye level as the teen.

"I'll remember that," the boy smiled weakly at him, his eyes were burning and he really just wanted to go back to sleep. But just the thought of going back to that place made him tremble in fear. He couldn't handle another nightmare reminding him that Gil had died while protecting him, the nightmares were so… real looking. "Hey, it's fine." The raven whispered,

"I know… I'm sorry,"

"Sorry for what?" -_For lying to you, For using you, For stabbing you in the back like that, For being a brat, For using you, For my whole existence. _

"Waking you up," the blond whispered while looking up, seeing that his eyes were red and bloodshot, his face was very pale, he really looked like he hadn't slept for days.

"Let's go back to sleep, you'll need it."

No. No more!  
He couldn't stand another nightmare. Gil must have seen the horror in his eyes; the young man got up and gently grabbed his hand. "Come on, I'll protect you,"

That won't keep the nightmares away. The boy still nodded and followed Gil back into the large bedroom, he was really tired and would probably fall back asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

But he didn't.

Gil and him crawled back in bed and the man pulled him closer, wrapping his arms protectively around the teen's waist. The raven's scent was all around him, making him feel dizzy. The teen was to tired to be embarrassed, besides… this was just to protect him. Any friend would do it. He had done this so many times with Aida when they were younger and his sister had a nightmare, even with Alice and he didn't have any romantic feelings for her. This was alright. His sleepy mind, then concluded and the teen felt sleep slowly coming back.

That was actually the first night he'd ever fall asleep in someone's arms, and not someone in his. It was the first time someone slept with him like this to actually protect Oz… and not Oz is protecting someone else. It was nice… knowing someone was there, watching your back in a dream world.

.

Of course, as soon as he woke up early in the morning those thoughts were gone like snow in the sun. He gasped when gazing at the sleeping face that was only mere inches away from his. Gil was still sleeping. The boy then started calming down, his eyes turned from surprise to curious… he had never seen Gil actually sleeping. His friend didn't need much sleep, and usually he woke up by the smallest sound. Yet… right now, he was completely at ease. It actually made the boy feel warm inside, knowing that Gilbert could only sleep like that next to him. Oz smiled softly while gently touching the young man's face, he had never gotten the time to actually do this… only ten years ago. The raven's face had been softer back then, it had been rounder… this man's jaw line was sharper, his eyelashes were shorter than he remembered… his nose was also different. Gil had changed a lot in ten years; the boy noted while caressing a few curly strands of hair out of his face, Gil had turned actually very handsome. He could get any girl he wanted, yet of all people he decided to fall in love with Oz.

Just Oz.

"You know…" the man mumbled, eyes opening slowly, "This is actually quite nice to wake up to," he smiled lazily and gazed straight into the heir's green eyes.

"A-ah sorry, did I wake you up?" the boy awkwardly pulled his hand back, ashamed that he had been caught like that. But the raven gently grabbed his wrist and brought the hand back to his face to plant a warm kiss in the palm of his hand. "Not really," he whispered and pulled the boy closer, Oz knew what was coming and closed his eyes when their lips met. He was slightly on top of him, Gil let go of the boy's wrist and instead placed his hand on the blond's lower back to push his body down, their bodies pressed against each other even though the teen's efforts to keep himself up. A hand slipped under his shirt to touch the skin on the back and the boy shuttered softly, deciding that's where he'd draw the line. Instead, he pushed himself off Gil and sat up straight with a fake teasing smile on his face. "So you like waking up next to me, huh." He hummed,

"Of course," the raven answered, amused and leaned down to kiss him again, a quick peck on the lips and that was that before the young man got a hand through his messy hair and got up. "Are you going to shower first?"

"Oh yeah, sure." He nodded,

"Unless you want to shower together,"

"You take too much space," the teen answered and jumped off the bed himself, quickly running towards the bathroom. "I'm using all the hot water!"

"Don't you dare, you brat."

The teen laughed while closing the door behind his back, this felt familiar. Teasing Gil… he smiled softly.

He actually really, really missed this.

He then opened the door again, "I need a new set of clothes first, why don't you take a shower first?" when seeing the '_So done with this_' look on Raven's his smile only bigger. "It's fine, I still got some of your clothes here… they're like the ones you wore the days before."

"Good. Nothing too fancy,"

"Yes, madam…" Gil muttered under his breath while walking towards his closet, surprised he saw Oz walking towards him. "Weren't you gonna take a shower?"

"Yes, I wanted to grab my clothes."

"It's fine, I'll get them for you."

"But…"

"I'll bring them,"

He did not trust that idea. The young man noticed the look on his face and laughed softly, "I won't jump you, relax."

"W-wha-"

"Just go, I've seen you naked many times without jumping you. Honestly, brat."

"How blunt," the teen sighed while heading back towards the bathroom, realizing how much different this man was to the Gil he knew. In a way it made things funnier, but it also reminded him that his friend was death and this man… was someone's else's.

The boy walked back into the bathroom and closed the door once again, he removed his clothing while shivering just slightly, why were mornings always so cold? The boy thought through gritted teeth while turning on the shower, yelping softly because of the cold water. _Some things never change_. He hummed while stepping into the shower cabinet and closing the glass door behind him. God, did he enjoy hot showers in the morning. Usually he liked to stay in as long as possible whenever he took a shower, lately he never had much time for it and just washed himself at the sink, so a shower made him really happy.

The teen washed his hair and then glanced down at the seal on his chest… it was strange to see the clock like scar on his chest, it hadn't moved once… and now it was gone. No more pain whenever it moved, but also no B-rabbit powers. And they hadn't gotten far with finding out the truth about 100 years ago. Why? Because the key of the abyss was as useless as a white pencil while drawing on white paper.

"You're really gonna take all the hot water?" Gil's voice interrupted his train of thoughts,

"I was hoping for it," the boy smiled, but then turned the shower off, Gil opened the glass door for him and immediately wrapped a big towel around his small body. "Thanks," the boy smiled while shaking his head like a wet dog,

"Dog," the Nightray agreed with him and ruffled his wet hair. "Your clothes are over there," he then pointed at the edge of the bathtub were a new outfit for the day rested and shoes on the ground. "I'm surprised you found the laundry basket. _New note, the other Oz was messy._ "Yeah, was a hard time looking for it though," the boy answered while drying his hair, he glanced at the mirror and knew Gil was looking at him, looking for something funny to say back, but the man simply shook his in amusement and started getting undressed so that he could take a shower. Oz turned his gaze back to his clothing, he placed the damp towel on the bathtub and changed into the clothes Gil had picked out for him. Happy to see that he indeed did his best to make them as casual looking as possible, a simple white shirt, plain beige shorts, a beige jacket and a green tie + black socks that stopped just below his knees and his indoor shoes. "You'd like to wait?"

"Where you're going?"

"Running away from you?"

"You wouldn't get far," the man snorted from under the shower,

"Is that a challenge?" the teen hummed while fixing his hair,

"No, that's a fact."

"What if I told you I could beat you in a game of running?" when his hair was good enough for his own liking, he turned around to face the man, not that he could see much, only the silhouette of his servant. The damp of the hot water had made it even harder to look through the glass, not that Oz was very interested in that. He simply gazed at the back of the man's head. "I'd give you 30 seconds and you'd still couldn't do it."

"What do I get if I win?" the teen asked,

"You serious?" Gil asked, amused while turning on the shower, the boy quickly shot up and grabbed the towel Gil had forgotten and walked towards the cabinet, handing him the towel. The man thanked him while shaking his head just like Oz had done, the teen huffed in amusement and took a few steps away from the wet man. "You're serious, right?"

He hummed as a response,

"Fine, what do you want?"

"I'd like to go to place where I held my coming of age ceremony,"

Gil froze when hearing this, a towel wrapped around his waist; he gave the teen a curious look. "_Why_?"

"I want to start looking for answers," he answered, even though he had figured out so much. But the pocket watch over there held one of Alice's memories, she deserved to see that one, if the boy had thought about it well enough, the reason why Cheshire hadn't attacked yet meant that he the girl hadn't gone out too much and thanks to the many shields around the house he couldn't sense her presence all too well, which meant there might still be a chance that he could protect the memories from 100 years ago… _the one Alice wanted to forget the most_. "Pandora is doing their best,"

"Well, yes, but I don't want to be useless anymore."

"You're not…" he could hear how much that hurt Gil,

"Well, that is… if I win, if you win… I'll…" he thought deeply, something that could make this race very interesting, so that Gil didn't have a choice do disagree. But honestly, all Oz could come up with was being extra lovey-dovey around the man. He blushed slightly, the other Gil didn't want anything, he just wanted Oz's safety and being by the teen's side. This person already had all of that…

"Hmm, sounds interesting." The man snorted, he grabbed his own clothes and started putting them on, "Forget it Oz, we're not going."

"I-I'll do anything you want." The boy blurted out, "For a whole week." _Bingo_. The man had put on his boxers and his pants hang loosely around his waist, "And as your lover… I mean," the blond then, continued, a blush on his face. "No master-servant relationship…"

"Anything?" the man hummed, "Even going to places you hate?"

Oh, thank god, Gil wasn't a pervert. "Yes, even that." He nodded, "But, 30 seconds." Beating Gil when starting at the same time would just be by a second, then, Gil was good at running for a long time, but he wasn't that great sharp turn or running off the stairs, that slowed him down… being small had its benefits at those moments. But if Gil gave him 30 seconds, he would beat him surely.

"Fine, 30 seconds." He nodded amused while putting on his shirt, Oz watched how the young man leaned against the wall while putting on his socks and shoes, Gil quickly combed his hair as well and they both walked out of the bathroom.

"30 seconds." The teen said,

"Yeah, yeah…" he counted to three and the moment he said start he watched with amusement how Oz rushed out of the door, how could this man know that the usual slow Oz could suddenly run very fast? The blond smiled slightly while running through the long hallways, the Rainsworth mansion was large and it usually took you a short five minutes to get to the dining room from the guest rooms, if you were running it was probably only one or two minutes. He could do this. He had already reached the door and still no sign of Gilbert behind him. The boy jumped on the balustrade and easily glided down,

Just then Break came through one of the many side doors, the clown gazed with slight surprise at how elegant the boy jumped off right on time before falling, "Good morning to the young master as well," he hummed,

"Morning!" Oz shouted over his shoulder,

"Since when did you get so fast?" he could hear Gil shout and the boy laughed while almost bumping into a maid who squeaked in surprise, "I'm sorry Annie!" he shouted, remembering the maid from his own world. He could hear Break's amused laugh while the two males ran through the whole house.

And of course, the teen won. He almost fell while opening the door of the dining room, Alice had been about to sit down and she and Sharon gave the out of breath boy a confused look. "Ah Alice," the teen quickly ran towards her, "Good knows we're going to-"

"Seriously, when did you practice running?" Gilbert interrupted him, followed by a very amused looking Break.

"What is going on?" Sharon asked confused,

"Oi, he was talking to me." Alice said angrily,

"Oh, right-"

"Oz!"

The boy groaned and turned to face Gilbert, "I like running?"

"Since when?" Break snorted while taking his seat at the table next to Sharon. She as well seemed to want to know when Oz started liking running,

"Adventure?" the boy awkwardly said, running had been one of his favorite things to do, he always ran away from his duties years ago, while the other him of course was very lazy. "Doesn't matter," he turned to Alice again, "We're going to look for your memories!" he happily said,

"When?" the girl asked happily,

"Well… since I won the race," the boy smiled and looked over his shoulder at Gil, seeing the frown on his face.

"Uhm… whenever you guys are ready to leave," the man sheepishly said,

"Then can we go after breakfast?!" Alice almost jumped up and down,

"I'm afraid not," Break hummed while adding sugar into his cup of tea,

"Why not?" Alice glared at the albino,

"The young master has visitors,"

"Eh?" the boy frowned, "How do you mean, visitors? Uncle Oscar?"

"Your uncle is a bit busy today, so no. But your sister and her friends are visiting in the afternoon and after breakfast your-"

"Why can't we just call them and cancel?" Alice interrupted the clown,

"Because, they were all very worried about Oz-kun." Sharon spoke calmly, giving the girl a sad look. She knew how much Alice wanted to go looking for her memories and, finally Oz seemed to be interested in helping her as well, such a pity that this moment would be taken away from her. "And since Oz-kun seems to be in good shape, they're allowed to visit. He has been in a coma for weeks, remember?"

"I have?" the teen blurted out,

Sharon had an annoyed look when he interrupted her, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. "Yes, Oz-kun."

"Oh… sorry," the boy nodded, feeling stupid.

"Glad to know you finally realize what a bother you were,_ young master_." Break hummed while drinking from his tea,

"Break-"

"It's fine, I'm sorry for all the trouble." He apologized and sat down next to a very upset Alice, he gave her a comforting smile while not noticing Gil sat down next to him. "How about we'll spend some time after breakfast together? I'm sure there's something we can do,"

The girl nodded, yet did not seem very happy about it. She had honestly looked forward to it now… well the boy couldn't blame her. How long had she waited for her memories? Pandora didn't have the information Oz had… they would never know where to start. The pocket watch had just been by accident and them learning a little about Alice's past was because of Cheshire trying to keep her from it.

He sighed and started eating, but somehow he wasn't hungry again. Just like yesterday… the boy sighed and placed the sandwich back on his plate while looking around the room, something was bothering him.

"You don't like the sandwich?" Gil asked, something about the tone he spoke made the boy look up, their eyes met, the man was upset about something as well. Had he done something bad again? "I'm not hungry,…" he then admitted,

"You should eat, or would you like to say that small?" Break said in a disrespectful tone,

"Perhaps you should stop eating so much sweets or your old body will drop dead on the floor," Alice snapped back before Oz could even say something, the teen blinked at her with big eyes.

Sharon sighed in amusement while Break smirked, amused. "My, my Alice-kun, standing up for the brat now." He glanced at said brat, eyes narrowing slightly; Ah, the boy quickly looked away. The man was onto something, he noticed a few things and was linking the parts together. The worst thing that could happen was the clown believing he was someone in disguise.

"Is it really so much to ask to have a normal breakfast without trying to hurt Oz," Gil then asked in a tired voice, and the boy sighed as well. He was being a bother again… "I don't mind," he spoke softly,

"Oz-" the man sighed and turned to face his lover very worried,

"Obviously I deserve it," the blond then said, before Gilbert could say anything else. He gazed straight into the man's eyes, "I know I'm not a good person, Gil. No matter how much you-… you _care_ about me, you don't have to try and lie to me or pretend that I am all-fine. I'm not,"

"But you didn't-" Alice quickly bit her tongue,

"Yes, Alice, I never noticed it until now." He quickly corrected her, smiling sadly at her. "Therefore, I understand that people dislike me. And if being in my presence disgusts you, I'll leave."

"Oz, no." Gilbert tried to stop the boy, but the blond easily shrugged his hand off. "Enjoy your breakfast, I'll wait… somewhere," he made a loose gesture and left. His heart was beating fast, his face was burning and his legs felt like jelly. But it was fine, he didn't want to upset Break and Sharon just for being in their presence. If what they wanted was for him to go, then that was fine. He should be happy; he had Gil again… and now Alice. Yet, why did it still hurt?

"The reason why you're not hungry is because you're so stressed out," said a girl's voice intermitted his train of thoughts; he stopped and turned around to face her. "Eh?"

"I've read it somewhere, if you're under a lot of stress your body forgets what it needs… you were upset because that clown and Sharon don't like you." She handed him a plate filled with way too much food, guess like she was still eating as well. "Seaweed head is fighting with them again," she said, then her eyes slightly narrowed, "You're not a bother,"

"Huh?"

"He told me to tell you this," she shrugged,

"Oh," he nodded and they both walked towards the grand hall, he wanted some fresh air. So they decided to sit in front of the big wooden doors at the front of the mansion. There were still some clouds up in the sky, but the sun was shining through them and it was a nice temperature outside.

Alice had been right, after ten minutes simply sitting there and gazing in front of him with an absent expression on his face, he started getting hungry, so he grabbed something off the plate without even looking at it and started nibbling on it while he kept gazing at nothing in particular. "You're stressed out because you don't know how to blend in, right?" she then asked.

He glanced at her; she was relaxed around him… nothing like the first time he talked to her, when her whole body had been ready to attack. Now she just casually sat next to him like always, like the Alice he knew. "I don't know how to act in this place," he admitted,

"That's normal," she agreed, "I've fought with Wish many times in the Abyss, he likes to talk a lot during those fights." The chain rolled her eyes, "He once told me that he enjoyed seeing the confusion on his contractors' face."

"Contractors?"

"That's how he calls them, but really there isn't an illegal seal or anything… you're his contractor until you've made your three wishes,"

"Three?"

The girl nodded, "Yes, but like… if you make a wish, were he has to put you in a different time, or dimension it's harder to find him… he doesn't follow you around, you know."

"So if I can find him, I could go back?"

"Do you wanna go back?"

Ah, he froze. The question wasn't that odd, yet it did make him think. Did he really want to go back? Wish would probably put him back in that cold place with Gil's death corpse. The boy started trembling again… images of Gil's death body flashing in front of his eyes. A soft whine escaped his mouth while he rubbed his temple.

"O-Oz!" Alice pushed the plate away and sat closer to him, a worried hand on his shoulder, she first shook his shoulder softly but when he didn't respond she hit the back of his head, hard. "What happened?"

"N-nothing," he lied, blinking a few times, a sigh of relief escaped his lips.

"Visitors," Alice then spoke and stood up, gazing at the carriage with narrowed eyes that was heading towards the house, Oz glanced at the plate, the chain had in her worry pushed a bit too harsh away so that their breakfast now lay on the ground. The teen sighed, well his hunger was gone again. So he just quickly cleaned up the mess they made before turning around again to gaze at whomever was getting closer.

The carriage had already stopped and the driver jumped off his seat to open the door for the visitors, a tall and elegant woman with long curly hair that was tied up with a beautiful ball gown stepped out of it, she wore a long green dress that unlike the outfits Sharon wore was very loose and showed the true figure of her body. Lifting up her long skirt she gracefully walked out of the carriage while holding the driver's hand, her nails were long and painted in a light pink color. When seeing Oz standing on the staircase she smiled amiably, "There's my handsome son," she smiled and walked towards the boy, still holding up her skirt. She pulled the shocked boy in a warm hug, her aroma smelled familiar… "M-mother?" he managed to intake a breath, eyes wide in astonishment. "Honey, we were so concerned, your father and I bought many gifts for you." She gently held his face while smiling kindly at him, her eyes filled with love, which only made the boy's heart ache even more.

"Don't spoil him like that, Rachel." A voice that sounded recognizable in an unusual way spoke from behind her, Rachel simply rolled her eyes in amusement and turned to face Alice, "Oh my, and charming Alice is here as well!" the woman hugged her as well, "We haven't talked much, I'm happy to see you two made up." When she had stepped away the teen could face the tall man that had just stepped out of the carriage as well. Out of instinct the boy took a step away from the man, feeling panic taking over his body. First his mother and now... No… he wasn't ready for this.

"F-father,"

* * *

**Please read my A.N from the beginning of this chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Big thank you to all those people who reviewed, I know I've been a nag. And honestly, I was prepared for someone to call me a whiny brat ^^but you guys didn't. So... I'm very grateful for that. Really, every review made my day. **

**I didn't know adding Rachel Cecile was going to be such a shock, ^^ I'd thought Break, Sharon and Alice disliking Oz was a bigger shock. Welp, thanks anyway. **

**Honestly, I didn't really know where I wanted to go with this chapter... But it's done, and honestly nothing much happens? **

**I don't own Pandora Hearts. Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter. (I had trouble writing it.)**

* * *

He had always kept his eyes downcast, whenever his father was in the same room as him. The boy never told anyone this, but he was scared of the man. At first he had simply kept a polite distance whenever the man walked past him, he had always greeted the man, had smiled at the ground even though the head of the Vesalius dukedom never looked up, he stopped doing that the moment his father spoke for the first time to him. The day he had told Oz he was filthy. From that day on, the blond left the room whenever Zai entered it, he didn't have dinner in the large dining hall when his father was home, and he made sure to keep as much distance as possible, just so that the man didn't have to bother looking at him. Zai never turned to face his son anyway,

Yet… this was different.

The boy sat still between the two people who were supposed to be his parents, _well they were his parents, but different_. His mother was supposed to be dead, and his father… his father would never sit so calmly next to him, one arm lazily resting against the back of the sofa so he touched Rachel's shoulder while Oz did his best to sit as straight up and close to the edge as possible. If it hadn't been for his mother pulling him between her and Zai he would have never chosen to sit here. Yet, he slowly dared to glance at the man's free hand that was simply resting on his lap… _did this person hate him_? The boy frowned slightly; Zai had greeted him with a nod and had gently patted his shoulder before entering the Rainsworth mansion. When walking through the hallways, he had even asked how Oz was feeling and that they needed to talk. The boy nodded and been super polite, yet this seemed to upset the middle aged man.

Oz, then glanced at his mother who was happily chatting with Sharon, whom sat across from them, the young lady smiled and laughed at Rachel's stories, Break sat casually next to the young Rainsworth, eyes fixed on the young Vesalius. He must have noticed something… but honestly, the teen didn't know how to adapt to this situation. He didn't know how the other Oz acted towards his parents, so he simply kept quiet and looked around the room.  
Alice as well noticed he felt unwell and kept an eye out, the moment something happened, she'd jump in, which kind of helped making him feel better. His eyes then met Gil's, the man smiled kindly at him and the Vesalius forced a smile back, before glancing at Rachel.

"Oh,_ right_, Oz." his mother then said happily after drinking from her tea, "Zai and I bought some presents for you,"

"F-_for me_?" he knew how surprised he sounded, and winced slightly when seeing the confusion in his mother's blue eyes.

"It was your mother's idea," Zai then snorted in amusement, "The moment she heard we could visit you she wanted to buy some 'get well' presents."

"Don't deny it, you loved picking out presents for your son." She hummed while smiling in such a loving way at her husband.

"A little," he huffed, his son blinked a few times when hearing this and slowly dared to turn his body so that he could face the middle aged man properly, he hesitated before looking up to meet his father's gaze, eyes widened because of what he saw; Zai smiled kindly at him, he had the same smile like uncle Oscar, "Only a little," he then reminded his son,  
The blond didn't know how to answer to that, he wanted someone to change the subject.  
Thank god, his mother did, "Gilbert told me you suddenly like reading," she happily said, "So I bought some books for you to read,"

"O-Oh, that's… that's great, thanks."

Break then abruptly stood up,surprising the whole room as he calmly fixed his clothes, he patted Sharon on her shoulder and walked out of the room. Sharon quickly excused herself and followed the albino, the moment she closed the door behind her back Oz saw his mother's eyes turn serious. There was no amusement anymore in her eyes, and Zai's relaxed posture changed as well, making the boy slightly flinch. Alice was more alert when she noticed the blond felt even more uncomfortable while Gil only gave the three Vesalius's a curious look, as long as Gil is fine with, he'd stay calm.

"Oz," Rachel then spoke, her voice soft but stern.

"Y-yes?"

She blinked before turning her head to face him, gently grabbing his hands and rubbing over his knuckles with her thumbs, "How do you feel… inside this house?"

"I…?"

"Oz, don't think we're stupid. We know you're feeling unwell here," Zai then sighed, surprising the boy, his eyes widened and he froze… his father had just called him by own name. It had rolled so easily over his tongue, like he addressed Oz by his name before.

"It's true, isn't it?" the brunette then sighed, her voice sad, "Oz, we love you. We don't want you to be somewhere where you don't feel safe,"

"I-I is safe… here," he spoke, already knowing where this was going.

His mother sighed, "Your father and I have discussed this with Pandora, and… it wasn't easy. But we managed to convince them for you to come back,"

"Back?" he couldn't help sounding so pitiful, his mother's scent was all around him, she was looking at him with those same loving eyes, she was holding his hand, she was gently caressing his skin, her smile made him feel safe again… he wanted to go back with her. When seeing the hope in her son's eyes Rachel only smiled more, " "Yes, back to the Vesalius mansion. Aida will soon be here as well, we can tell her as well. She'd be so happy, we all would be."

"Everyone?" he asked and didn't dare to glance at his father,

"Of course," Zai nodded, and gently patted the Vesalius on his head, only to pull his hand back when seeing his son's reaction. "Oz, are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine," he nodded, avoiding everyone's gaze, instead he gazed at the green dress his mother wore, it suited her… she looked good. She looked just like the woman from his memories.

"I get it, you're scared." Rachel then said and glanced at her husband, as if asking he agreed with her, and she smiled sadly when seeing the blond man nod. "We know it's a risk, but don't worry. Every day members of Pandora will protect you, _us."_

It sounded like a dream. And the boy was screaming yes in his head, to be able to spend time with his mother again, god he wanted nothing more. But… no. The boy shook his head, "I can't," his gaze turned serious as he looked up to meet his mother's shocked eyes,

"W-why not?" her voice was so soft, almost like a whisper and the teen didn't even realize the sound he made until it had already left his mouth; it had sounded like a wounded animal. He had upset his mother…. Now that he had her back.

"I can't, what about Gil?" he then asked and glanced at his friend, he had kept silent this whole time, when noticing he got pulled into this conversation the raven sat up a bit straighter and whispered his lover's name. "W-what about Alice?" he didn't even bat an eye when seeing the surprised look on Gil's eyes as he glanced at the chain whom seemed more than touched that Oz thought of her as well.

"T-They can come as well," lady Cecile's voice sounded like she was almost begging him,

"Of course, Gilbert is your lover, it's only natural." Zai quickly agreed and Gil nodded when hearing this, "And if you want Alice to be there as well, as your friend, we completely understand this."

"What about everyone's safety?" Oz 's voice became louder and he somehow found the courage the face his father again, "I'll be putting everyone in danger. The Baskervilles are still after me, B-rabbits scent is still all over me."

Alice grimaced when hearing this.

"Pandora will take care of that,"

"It would mean setting up thousands of traps like Break did here," Oz shook his head, he saw his mother's teary eyes, and knew his face must have looked like he was on the edge of tears once again, yet his eyes were dry. His throat felt thick and swallowing hurt. "I can't,"

"T-they don't even want you here," his mother breathed out a broken and hollow chuckle, tears rolling over her pink cheeks, "Oz," her voice broke as she lifted up a trembling hand to gently caress the Vesalius's face, Oz closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he whispered,

"Why?" he heard her ask while hugging him, "We love you, we only want you back." Rachel sobbed, "You don't know what it's like… knowing that your baby is in the house of someone else that is supposed to protect him... _Yet,_ they don't care at all…"

"Look, Oz…" Zai sighed, gently placing his hand on his only son's shoulder, "We only want you to be happy and feel safe," he spoke, "Obviously, you don't feel safe here… and you don't seem that happy."

"I'm fine," he protested, "This is my fault," his mother let go of him and gave him a puzzled look, gazing his father straight in the face made him feel uncomfortable, so he stared at the man's left hand instead, while his body was still slightly turned towards his mother. "I'll fix this, you t-two don't have to worry about anything."

"Oz… honey," but the blond boy stood up and turned around to look at his parents, forcing a smile. Smiling towards his mother was easy, _but to his father._ "I want to be able to stand on my own two feet," he confessed honestly, just like he had told Gilbert when the man had been drunk and begged him to care more about his own safety. "I don't want to bother you two any more than I already am,"

"Y-you're not a bother," his mother sobbed,

He could hear Alice whisper his name, her voice was proud while Gilbert could only gaze at him in awe.

Rachel was begging him with her eyes to accept her offer, but when her son did not change his mind, she glanced at her husband, he shook his head, disappointed and gently grabbed her hand. His mother wiped her tears away and sat up straight, offering her son a weak smile. "The driver must have brought your presents to the other room, why don't you go and check?" she then asked softly, "I'd like to talk with Gilbert a little," her voice was weak and she was trembling, even though the boy had no idea why his parents even bothered buying something for him, he still nodded. Knowing they wanted to discuss something in private with Gilbert.

"Alice, could you go with Oz?" Gilbert then asked, and the girl didn't even glare at him. She eagerly ran after the boy who had been waiting for her, knowing this would happen.

"What's the big deal?" the brunette then asked when they were in the hallway, Oz smiled softly at her while gesturing that she had to be quiet, she frowned, but still kept her mouth shut while watching Oz walk towards a door that was slightly open and where you could easily hear two people having a conversation.

"_I'm shocked actually, surely you'd think Gilbert-kun would have noticed by now_." Sharon spoke,

"No, the brat is too clever for that,"

"That's the first time I actually hear you praising him," the young lady chuckled,

Break hummed, but not in amusement. Oz didn't need more, he knocked on the door and smiled kindly at the two. "I think my parents would like to talk with you two," he said,

"Oh really?" Sharon got up from the chair and dusted herself off, "And where are you two heading?" she asked curiously,

"Mother and father brought some presents for me, I'm gonna take a look at them." He tried to sound as bratty as possible, and somehow it worked because Break grimaced and even Alice gave him a confused look. "Come on Alice, you can have the ones I don't like." He then turned to face the girl and walked away, hoping he looked arrogant enough. When they were out of sight, he hid behind a closet and pulled Alice to him.

"What are you even doing?" she asked with hushed voice,

"My mother noticed something," he explained, "From the moment my father touched me, she noticed something was off about me."

"Yeah, you seemed scared of him." She frowned, "Why? The other Oz always talked so fondly about him."

When seeing the painful expression on her contractors' face, she kept quiet, he was softly counting and then came from out of his hiding spot and headed back in the same direction, "You're gonna eavesdrop?" she asked amused,

"Just to make sure," he smiled at her,

"Hmm, I like you more than the other Oz."

She didn't get a response, instead Oz simply lifted up his hand a bit, a sign that she had to be quiet again while he stood close to the door that the servant whom had just entered left open, "All I'm asking for is, what have you done to my son." Rachel's voice was harsh and cold when talking towards Sharon and Break,

"Lady Cecile, as the young mistress and I have already told you, the young master Oz woke up like this."

"Like this?" the boy flinched, recognizing the tone his father spoke in, "He-he's…"

"Broken," Rachel finished for him, "I can't quite put a name on it, but when I hugged him it was as if he hadn't hugged me in a very long time… he also has this look in his eyes, like he's hiding something and-"

"Yes, we've noticed it as well." Sharon sighed, "Break thinks this is because of his near death experience,"

"The brat finally realized how awful he has been towards us,"

"Enough, Xerxes." Zai raised his voice,

_Ah, he had caused a fight_.

"I agree with Sharon and Break though,"

"Gil-"

"Not the brat part, of course." He quickly finished, "I just think this is because of the poison, he has nightmares, and they seem very real to him, I think he actually believes them."

"Nightmares?" Zai repeated,

"What for nightmares?" Break suddenly sounded very interested, and just by hearing his tone the blond knew he was very close to figuring out who Oz really was, well, perhaps that was for the best, he sighed softly, that way he didn't have to try and be friends again, perhaps they'd give him a chance just like Alice did now.

"He doesn't want to talk about them," Gilbert spoke, "Though… when he woke up after his coma, he couldn't believe I was alive."

"How so?" Sharon asked curious,

"I don't know…" Gilbert's voice sounded slightly odd, "He seemed pretty convinced that a chain had killed me, said something about a… uhm chain hunting trip?"

"Oh," Emily cackled, "Since when can the brat hunt?"  
"That makes me curious as well," the albino agreed with the doll,

"And… well, I've noticed it as well, he seems to have this sad look in his eyes," the raven continued, choosing to ignore Break, "Also… he seems to not understand the fact that there are people who love him," _Break snorted_, "Like, he doesn't deserve to be loved."

"Why is he so scared of me?" Zai then asked with a harsh tone, "My son, _my own son_ flinched when I tried to touch him."

"Did he now," Break hummed, "My, my… must be because of the nightmares. I guess we'll have to call the doctor again. But that isn't really the reason why you're upset, now is it? Master Vesalius?"

"You two are here to take Oz with you, isn't it?" Sharon agreed, "What did Oz-kun answer?"

"He refused," Gilbert sighed,

"Did he," the hatter chuckled, "Well then," the boy could hear the sound of Break jumping off something and landing on the floor, "I still have some business that need to be taken care off, I think we can all agree that young master Oz simply is trying to be a better person."

"Xerxes-"

"I'm sorry lady Vesalius, if you have any more questions. I'd suggest you'll ask your son yourself, he must have noticed by now that the presents that are meant for him are already in this room." With that, the clown walked out of the room and both Oz and Alice quickly hid behind a wall, sadly even Oz knew that you couldn't trick Break like that.

_"Eavesdropping isn't cute, young master Oz."_

After that, his parents acted like their usual selves. Well, according to Alice. The boy sadly couldn't read their body language well enough, he didn't know how his parents lied to the other Oz. He hadn't spoken with his mother for years, and only exchanged a few words with his father…. And right now, thinking back about those words would only get him even more out of his role.

"_Usually you're very picky when it comes to presents, you throw the ones you don't like away." _Alice had told him before entering the room, and he had tried to be snobby, he had honestly tried to throw one of the books away, but how could he? His parents had taken their time to go out and buy them for him, they must have talked with Gilbert and bought the first volumes of the Holy Knight series so that he had his own copies, he had tried to throw away the necklace that was a bit too girly for his own liking, but the other Oz liked this kind of stuff… that was the reason why Rachel bought it for him, and she seemed rather proud of the necklace. Smiling when seeing her son put it on, not even noticing the slight blush on his face as he simply hid it under his shirt. There was a meaning behind those presents… how could he ever refuse that?

Well, sure his parents were a bit surprised because of that. But they were also very happy, thinking they finally found the perfect presents. They deserved a kinder son, but got stuck with a snotty brat _and now with him…_

.

The biggest surprise came in the afternoon, when Aida and her friends came by to visit.

"Ah well, if isn't our beautiful daughter with her boyfriend."

"W-we're not dating, papa!" were the first words a very awkward Aida stuttered while entering the green tea room, Sharon chuckled softly.

"As if," a way too familiar voice spoke before entering the room as well, Oz, whom had been about to get up to greet his sister froze, this wasn't happening. Was it? This surely was a dream. He must have heard that wrong…

"Wow, shorty is here as well." The owner of that voice spoke with a cocky grin on his face, putting both hands in the pockets of his pants, while his valet scolded him for being so rude while Oz's parents were here as well.

At that moment, the young heir didn't care about being out of character; he quickly jumped off the sofa and ran towards the youngest Nightray, "Elliot!" he shouted, his heart was beating faster then usual as he slowed down and gazed straight into those familiar blue eyes.

"Hi…" the Nightray greeted him a bit awkward, not understanding why Oz looked as if saw an angel. It was as if he had to accept that he really was standing here, confused, he glanced at Leo, the raven-haired boy shrugged, not understanding either what was going on.

"Big brother, is everything alright?" Aida asked a bit worried,

Only Alice seemed to understand what was going on, while the others remembered Gil mentioning something about realistic nightmares.

"A-ah, no… I just… I missed you," the boy finally realized what he was doing, and how odd he must seem to the others, he offered the taller teen an awkward smile,

"Huh, that's the first time I hear you saying that," Elliot smirked and gently patted Aida's brother's head, "Last time we talked you ignored me after I kept calling you short,"

"You're not that tall either," the boy snorted,

"Taller than you, shorty."

"Shut-up!"

"Okay, stop it now. Both of you," Leo sighed while hitting the two teenagers on the back of their heads; both apologized at the same time, causing the others in the room to laugh.

"Right, Aida wanted to buy something for you." The Nightray then spoke after greeting everyone in the room with a nod, apparently he has been here before, and seeing how his parents didn't even bat an eye at the presence of another Nightray he easily guessed that the Nightrays and the Vesalius somehow found a way to stop their endless fight.

"Ah," Elliot then noticed, looking at what the boy was wearing, "You look different,"

"A pity isn't it?" Rachel hummed, "He always looked so good in the clothes I bought for him,"

The youngest Nightray rolled his blue eyes when hearing this, a soft smirk on his face. He glanced at Leo, the raven haired teen hid the smirk behind his hand. Obviously, they didn't agree with Rachel. And Oz smiled softly when noticing this. But it did make things a bit more complicated for him; did the other Oz wear those ridiculous clothes because he wanted to? Or because his mother bought them for him? Glancing at Alice, the girl noticed he had another question for her. She mouthed, 'later' and he nodded.

"You look good, though." Leo then said, "For someone who just woke up after being poisoned,"

Aida smiled as well, "Well, we're all very glad you're alright."

The boy started to have trouble with choosing whom he had to look at, honestly, he just wanted to talk with Elliot and Leo now, after the whole Isla Yura incident, he had realized how much his friendship with them had meant to him, he had missed Leo. There had been so many things he wanted to talk about with Leo, about Elliot… about Humpy Dumpty, about what he saw at the party. But he couldn't, Pandora didn't allow it… and then Vincent got Leo out. He hadn't seen the teen once after Elliot's death, and to be able to see him now, really helped. He smiled softly at the boy, he looked good, still having that dorky look.

While Elliot still wore his usual frown,

"Big brother, is everything alright?" Aida then asked curiously, "You look like you're about to cry,"

"A-ah, I'm fine." He laughed awkwardly, not knowing he had made such a painful expression. "Ah, right, Elliot…" he decided that he was just gonna go and catch up with Elliot, when those blue eyes turned to face him again, he started talking, he talked about 'finally' staring to read the Holy Knights volume and his smile only widened when seeing that familiar sparkle in his friend's eyes when hearing his favorite series being named, instead of starting a fight about their favorite characters, they simply discussed theories and what they didn't like and did like.

The others decided it was for the best to simply let them talk for a while, only Leo could follow their conversation anyway, but since he wasn't a fan of the series he simply chatted with Aida about a drama they both read,

Zai and Rachel were trying to get some more information about the love life of their son, poor Gilbert was the victim. So no one noticed Sharon and Alice walking out of the room, to look for Break. Not even Oz, who had promised himself to be extra alert about his surroundings didn't notice it.

Until Aida stopped their conversation to hand him his get well present, a book for beginners for the piano.

"You said you wanted to learn how to play the piano," Aida then awkwardly spoke; _the other him couldn't play the piano._ "Oh, thanks." He thanked her, and frowned when seeing the surprised look on his sister's face. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"We're not used to you thanking someone," Leo chuckled,

"Oh…" he nodded, then glanced at Gilbert and his parents. Seeing they were still bothering the raven with a thousand questions, having finally reached the awkward parts, he decided it was for the best if he quickly left before they started asking him about his relationship with the man as well. "How about you help me, Elliot?" he happily asked,

"Now?"

"Is that a problem?"

The taller boy shrugged, "Not at all," he spoke, glanced at the others, "Seriously," he huffed when realizing what they were talking about so left together with Leo, Oz and Aida to the music room of the Rainsworth mansion.

.

"Where did you learn to play like that?" Elliot asked, surprised after hearing Oz play a very easy song on the piano, quickly pulling his hands away from the piano as if he burned himself he realized he had gotten carried away. Without thinking he had started playing, wanting to impress his friends.

"Ah, I might have… started learning on my own?"

"Since when are you using your brains?" Elliot snorted,

"Elliot," Aida scolded, but she as well was curious.

Honestly, couldn't the other Oz at least try acting smart? He thought annoyed, "I've always used my brains," he muttered and started playing the first notes of a more complicated song, fingers easily finding the keys he needed, as if he had done this before. _Which he had_, but the others didn't know this. Leo smiled and sat down next to him, replacing the book for beginners with one from his own bag, Oz glanced at it… it was the one with songs Leo and Elliot composed themselves, he watched the boy look through the handwritten notes and then stopped, the blond by now had stopped playing. "Think you could play that, master Oz?" the raven-haired asked,

"Sure," he hummed, watching his friend start the song and quickly joining him, behind him, he could hear Aida and Elliot whisper softly,

"This is the first time… I see them get along like that," Aida whispered softly, hoping her brother couldn't hear. Sadly, he could.

"What exactly happened with him?" Elliot then asked,

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, that he's completely different." He spoke, "The Oz I know would never even touch a book, why now?"

"I don't know, they kept me out of this."

There was a silence, and Oz could imagine Elliot simply nodding in understanding, he glanced at Leo and saw the older teen had heard their conversation as well, he offered him a kind smile while finishing the song.

The sound of someone clapping his/her hands made the teenagers look up; Rachel was smiling while walking in the music room. "Have you been practicing without us knowing?" she asked while gently ruffling his hair with both hands, the boy shivered slightly, still not used to seeing her happily walking around. He wasn't used to any of this… to see Elliot standing there, to be able to talk to Leo again, to have a normal conversation with his father… none of this was anything like the place where he came from.

His mother joined the two boys on the seat in front of the piano, it was large enough for four people so neither Leo nor Oz had to move much, Rachel pressed a few keys, "It has been a while since I last played the piano," she chuckled, "Perhaps if I catch up… we should play a song together, don't you agree Oz?" she smiled kindly at her son.

"Sounds like fun…" he hummed, not even noticing the others, giving him a curious look… after all, the other Oz would never say such a thing.

.

Sadly, that day came to an end, he had already been lucky everyone stayed for dinner. He had ignored the odd looks he got while happily chatting with his mother and Elliot, he did his best to have a normal conversation with Zai as well, he talked with Aida, pulled Alice in the conversation and even Sharon joined their conversation after a while.

After that they had simply stayed in the dining and kept talking, until it was time to go.

"Are you going to visit us soon again?" Oz asked Elliot and Leo in the grand hall,

"Yeah, sure." The Nightray answered and glanced at Leo, who nodded as well, "Right now I have to go back to the Nightray mansion, mother is ill." He sighed, "But you can come and visit any time, and we'll come by again. If that isn't a bother…" he glanced at Sharon and Break whom had followed their conversation from afar,

"Not at all," the young lady spoke while looking up at Break, a kind smile on her face.

"As long as they don't behave like a bunch of spoiled brats, I'm fine with it," he casually shrugged while Emily cackled on his shoulder,

Before Oz could thank them, he got pulled into a tight hug; he smiled while breathing in his mother's scent once again, returning the hug. "You'll come visit again, right?" he almost whispered, scared that once she walked out of these doors he would never see her again.

"Of course, and you'll have to visit as well. If it's just one day, it's fine, right?"

"Yeah, I promise." He nodded,

_"I love you,"_

He flinched slightly when hearing his mother whisper those words in his ears. He remembered how he told Gil this, for a second he had trouble breathing… the teen felt awful, felt disgusting.  
"Well then," Rachel let go of him and glanced at her husband,  
Zai nodded and gently patted Oz on the shoulder, "We'll see you soon, son." He smiled,  
Aida then hugged her brother as welll, "I like the new you more," she whispered in his ear and softly pecked his cheek, "Don't change anymore," she let go of her brother and left with her parents.

Elliot and Leo left as well and for a while Oz simply gazed at the closed doors, before realizing he wasn't alone. He turned around to face Alice, whom had been waiting until everyone was gone, she glanced at Break and Sharon, and the Vesalius followed her gaze. He then realized something… "Where's Gil?"

"Ah Gilbert-kun," Break hummed, "He has been awfully quiet today, hasn't he?"

"Now that you mention it…" Sharon agreed with him while looking around, as if the Raven would suddenly walk out of the shadows, a slight frown appeared on her face as her gaze then fell on Oz. "Oh…"

"What?" Alice asked, confused,

"Seems like young master Oz hasn't been paying much attention to our beloved raven, now has he?" the hatter hummed while walking to the stairs, "What if he gets jealous?"

The boy's eyes widened when hearing this, his heart started beating faster and his legs felt weak. He had been stupid, he had been so caught up with catching up with everyone that he completely forgot about his friend, the reason why he got this second chance to meet up with everyone. "Oz… it's not your fault," Alice spoke softly, yet he did not hear her. He quickly ran back to the dining room, he could hear an annoying ringing noise in his ears and images of Gil's bloody corpse flashed in front of him, he shook his head.

Not now.

He ran faster.

Almost bumping into Gil,

"Oz?"

"I'm so sorry," the boy blurted out, he saw how golden eyes widened slightly in confusion, but quickly continued, he didn't know why he was so scared, why he felt so relieved to see Gilbert still standing here, suddenly an awful thought entered his mind… "I was so caught up in catching up with everyone and completely forgot about you," _What if this world collapses if he ignored Gil? _The reason why he was here, he had wished for Gilbert to be alive again. Because more than anything or anyone, he couldn't stand a life without his best friend.  
He had gotten used to the absence of his mother, he had blamed himself for Elliot's death, he still missed his friend, but knew that Elliot's death had not been for nothing… at that time nothing had entered his mind, he could only gaze in utter shock at the Nightray's dead corpse,_ but when Gil died…_

The young man must have noticed something was wrong and hugged him, "It's fine, you missed them." He said in a soft and calming voice, the teen's heart stopped beating so hard against his ribcage and he could breath again. "I'm sorry," he whispered once again, he felt how Gil let go of him and kneeled down so that they were at the same eye level. Warm lips met his… and he accepted the gesture of affection, he held onto the man, scared that if he'd let go and he'd surely collapsed. He was still trembling on his knees. He needed Gilbert.

More than anything.

Oz knew this was selfish of him, he knew that his friend deserved so much better, yet he couldn't stop his greedy hands from reaching out every time towards the man. And as long as Gilbert wanted him by his side, he would stay there. Because even though the boy still felt disgusted with himself for lying like that, deep down, he knew how much he cared for the man. Perhaps not as lovers, but the word love didn't always have to be for your partner, right?


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own Pandora Hearts. **

**-Just a short extra chapter? Enjoy. **

* * *

_He felt dizzy. _

Never had he ever been so close to someone, bodies pressed against each other while he felt lips hungrily pressed against his. His eyes were shut while his arms were wrapped around his friend's neck, his body trapped between the wooden door that led to the hallway and Gil's.

_He felt warm._

A soft gasp as their lips broke apart; the boy started wondering if he was getting better at this? It wasn't like he could really ask Gilbert anyway, right? Those warm hands had gently cupped his face, the hunger had been fed and right now those kisses were tender and soft, making Oz feel weak.  
Wasn't it strange that he had gotten so used to kissing his friend like this? A week had gone by now since he woken up in this place, so far they hadn't gotten far with looking for Alice's memories since there was always something holding them back. This led to Oz starting to worry about his friend's feelings, and he spend as much time as possible with the girl to cheer her up when he told her they couldn't go. But when he spend time with Alice he forgot about the others, and started forgetting about Gil and then started to panic when seeing his supposed-to-be-lover sitting somewhere calmly chatting with Break and Sharon or him being alone while smoking a cigarette.

To be honest, Oz had never really wondered what the raven did when he was alone, in this world he started to pay more attention to it. He once caught himself gazing at the young man who was simply smoking a cigarette on the balcony; he didn't know why he suddenly became so curious to know what the man did when he was alone. Gilbert was just quiet and you could see he was thinking about something.

Oz knew that lately the raven started to notice he was acting different, and to keep him from digging too far he let the man kiss him as much as he wanted whenever they were together. It was embarrassing to kiss him in front of the others, but they just minded their own business whenever they did that. In public the kisses they shared were quick… but behind locked doors, whatever control the man had got lost.

This was one of those nights, and so far the young Vesalius had been lucky that Gil only kissed him. Though, guessing from how long they had been kissing, the teen was starting to get worried that things might get a bit further.

"Gil…" he breathed out behind two kisses, the boy's eyes opened and he gazed straight into his friend's golden eyes, his own eyes widened when seeing something he had never seen in them.

_Lust._

Next thing he knew he felt the man's arms wrap around him and he got lifted up from the ground, a soft sound of surprise escaped his lips and he had to wrap his legs around the man's waist to keep himself from falling while his hands rested on the man's shoulders. Gil's lips were slightly swollen… wow. Had his friend always looked that awesome? He wondered while leaning down to kiss him again, knowing this is what the young man wanted anyway.

Gil was walking towards the bed; he gently placed the boy on the soft mattress and crawled on top of him, entering Oz's mouth with his tongue when their lips landed on each other again.

It felt good. The boy couldn't deny it. He couldn't imagine what it must feel like for the raven, to do such things out of love and not because you were afraid to get caught otherwise.

Gilbert's lips left his mouth and instead they landed on the boy's jaw, Oz was too distracted, his body started to respond without him even noticing. His whole body felt like it was on fire,

_It felt good._

He didn't notice the man removing his tie, didn't notice him unbuttoning his shirt. It didn't even get through him that he was actually starting to get aroused, "_Gil_," he loved how easily that name rolled over his tongue, loved it when Gilbert huffed out of amusement before brushing over the boy's neck with his lips, the whole room was spinning right in front of his eyes when the man gently bit the already sensitive skin and the boy bucked his hips just slightly when Gilbert unbuttoned his shorts, Oz's smaller hands held onto the white fabric of the Nightray's shirt as he breathed out his name again _and again._

The moment those wet lips brushed over his earlobe the boy shut his eyes and_ moaned._

_Ah._

Eyes widened in horror.

As if he had woken up from some kind of trance, suddenly he was very aware of how close Gil's hand was to his crotch, suddenly he realized that you weren't supposed to be doing this with someone you don't have romantic feelings for. This was going too far, if he'd let Gil continue he would surely feel lower than scum. The boy felt panic once again taking over his body, his heart was beating faster and he started trembling. His voice was barely louder than a whisper, "_Stop_…" his throat hurt.

Gil only hummed something having not understood whatever his lover had whispered.

"Stop." The boy tried again, this time it came out as a soft whine, his eyes were burning.  
_He couldn't do this_. He felt dirty, knowing that Gilbert thought he was doing this with the boy he grew up with… but instead it was someone else.  
_He couldn't do this_.

"Stop!" he finally spoke loud enough, his voice loud and clear and it hurt. "Stop, stop, stop…" he didn't know why he started repeating it, Gilbert had already stopped and was gazing at him with eyes filled with a mix of surprise, hurt, worry and confusion. "_Stop, stop_…" the boy started begging now,

"O-Oz, what's wrong?"

"I can't do this, I can't…" he shook his head, _please don't cry, please don't cry_. "I'm sorry…" the boy pushed the raven off him and crawled as far away as possible from him on the bed, like a wounded animal.

"Oz, what's wrong? Did I hurt you?" the young man tried reaching his hand out towards the boy, but stopped, not sure if it was the right thing to do. Seeing the state he was in.

_The boy shook his head_,

"Then what's wrong?"

_No answer,_

Gilbert sighed; he sat on his knees and gazed at the trembling boy. "… A nightmare?" he asked confused, "I-I mean… did you see something?"

For a moment, it looked like Oz wouldn't react. But slowly, the young Vesalius looked up and he saw the boy's eyes filled with unshed tears. Oz could see the man's heart shattering into a thousand pieces, thinking he was the cause of the state he was in. So he quickly nodded, "Ye-yeah, I'm sorry… I-I…" his voice was breaking and he got a hand through his blond hair, slowly getting closer to Gil, "I'm sorry, Gil." He whispered and let his head rest on the man's shoulder, this time it was the raven that froze… but slowly, he wrapped his arms around the teen's still trembling body. "It's okay," he whispered,

Gilbert had been by his side every night after all, he knew about the nightmares the boy had. Every night they would fall asleep on their own side of the bed, until the young heir would wake up, covered in sweat and panting heavily. Every night, the young man would wake up and pull him closer, so that the teen would fall asleep in the arms of his friend and the nightmares would stay away until the next night.

"I should be the one apologizing, I didn't know this could trigger something," the Nightray sighed,

"No," the teen shook his head, "No, no, this isn't your fault. I-I'm an idiot _you_…" _deserve so much better._ He lowered his gaze, "I'm tired,"

"We should go to sleep then…"

The boy nodded while avoiding the man's gaze,_ he felt filthy. _

_He was the worst._

Yet Gilbert was still here, he still helped the boy in the simple shirt he wore every night, and he didn't ask why the teen slept so far away from him in this large bed.

He didn't get angry when Oz woke up in the night from another nightmare, he simply pulled the boy back in his arms while whispering calming words in his ear, saying it was _alright_, it was _just a dream_ while the boy kept apologizing for something only he knew.

Gilbert still kept by his side, when the boy fell asleep again while muttering one last apology.


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own Pandora Hearts. **

* * *

_Running. _

_He was running. _

_A long hallway spread before him with doors on every side,  
So many doors, but they were all locked.  
Behind him, he could hear his own voice, singing those awful words over and over again. _

'I love you'

_His chest hurt, "_Shut-up_!" he screamed.  
There was a silence, and the boy stopped. Looking around… A sigh of relief escaped his lips; "It's gone…" he spoke, behind him, he could hear the creaking sound of a door opening. Slowly, the young Vesalius heir turned around to look at it, it was dark in that room, the light from the hallway was just enough to show him where the light knob was. _

_A voice in the back of his head screamed for him to not enter the room, but even if he listened, there wasn't anywhere else he could go. The other doors were locked… and behind him was only darkness. Oz took a deep breath and headed towards the slightly open door. All he needed to do was turn on the light and he was safe. He didn't know how he knew that, what was this place anyway. The boy shook his head; he placed his hand on the wooden door and pushed it more open, then reached his hand out to the light switch. _

_His fingers touched the small knob, and that's when a bloody hand grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm away from what could save him. The boy yelped when seeing two bloodshot eyes glare at him through the darkness, 'Liar, liar…' an eerie voice chanted. _

_The monster pulled him into the darkness, Oz tried to scream but no one could hear him. "You're a liar, Oz." a very familiar voice spoke. _

"_G-Gil," the boy managed to whisper and turned around, searching for his friend. He could hear his voice, coming from every direction, echoing through his head until he collapsed on his knees while covering his ears. _

"_Your lies… will eventually become the death of him. Once again…" that eerie voice whispered in his ear, he could feel the wetness of its blood dripping on his clothes, the boy started trembling in fear while gazing wide eyed at his own reflecting. It had started raining again… blood was slowly mingling with the water. _

_Please, someone make it stop. He shut his eyes. _

"_Is this really what you want?" he heard his own voice ask, the boy had trouble breathing, he was trembling from head to toe and he felt like he would collapse any moment, yet he still sat on his knees and tried looking around… that's when the corpse of his servant fell right in front of him. The image of the raven covered in his own blood and with a huge hole in his body was what pushed the boy over the edge. _

_He started screaming._

.

The boy sat up straight, gasping for air. He felt two hands resting on both shoulders of his, and it took him but a moment to realize those hands belonged to Alice and Gilbert. "Oz, are you okay?" they asked at the same time, eyes wide with worry. The boy was still trying to breath normal again, "A-ah… sorry," his voice was hoarse and he had trouble with faking a smile as he leaned against the back of his seat. Gaze wandering off to outside, rain was ticking against the window of their carriage.

"Another nightmare?" the raven then asked with a soft voice, the moment Oz's eyes rested on the young man he immediately got reminded of that bloody image of his nightmare. Emerald eyes widened just slightly before returning to normal, his heart was beating hard against his ribcage and he felt like he was suffocating.

But he still found the power the fake a smile, "Yeah, but it's fine now."

"Really?" the fourth passenger hummed while unwrapping a blue colored candy, the doll on his shoulder kept quiet and with his single red eye gazed at the round piece of candy as if it was the most curious thing he had ever witnessed, "You say that while you're still trembling like that,"

Alice narrowed her eyes just slightly, "Clown," she muttered through gritted teeth and in response Break looked up to meet her gaze, his smile faded away and instead he had a serious expression on his face while looking outside of the window as well. "How bothersome…" he muttered, the doll on his shoulder kept quiet for this one time.

Oz sighed then, he gazed at Alice, whom sat back next to the hatter across from him, she had changed seats the moment she noticed he had another bad dream. Gilbert still kept sitting next to him; the Nightray gave his lover a worried look. "Are you still tired?"

Yes. He was. The boy shook his head, "No," he didn't want the man to tell him to sleep a little more, scared the dream would continue if he did. Of course, his body just had to betray him, he had to suppress a yawn, luckily at that moment Alice tried to gaze outside the window and because of a bump in the road she fell so that Gilbert didn't notice. The raven rolled his eyes, while Oz smiled softly when seeing this. His eyes met Break's single red eye and he quickly looked away.

_Damn._

"Why the sudden interest in going to that place anyway, young master Oz?" the hatter then asked, both Alice and Gilbert were ready to defend the boy in case Break would try insulting him again. But right now, the young looking man was sitting casually in his seat. No candies in his hands or mouth, his legs were crossed and both hands rested on his lap, as he did not break eye contact with the fifteen year old.

"I think it's the best way to start searching for Alice's memories,"

"You do know Pandora already took a look at that place, for ten years. Not a single report of anything Abyss related at all,"

"Yes, but Pandora doesn't have the information we have," Oz answered calmly, he knew that was against everything the other Oz did, even Alice had trouble with believing that he was actually trying to have a normal conversation with the man. Gilbert simple gave him a curious look, and Oz saw a glimpse of the Break he knew so well while talking to him, he was actually interested in whatever the heir had to say. "And what sort of information would that be?"

"Alice," the boy quickly said, realizing that he almost said something that could easily reveal his true identity,

"Me?" the brunette asked, confused while pointing at herself,

Break glanced at the girl as well, there was no amusement in his eye, his red eye was cool and he actually seemed to be a bit annoyed. This wasn't the kind of relationship he wanted with the young man, he didn't want both Gil and Alice to keep on fighting the white haired man simply because the other him had been rude towards him. _Perhaps I should just tell him_. "Well, yes," Oz smiled kindly at Alice, "They're your memories. Which would mean, they only respond to you."

His two friends nodded in understanding while Break, simply hummed, "You seem very convinced about your theory," he then spoke, the boy could hear Gilbert sigh in frustration next to him, he glanced at the man and when their eyes met he smiled kindly at him. He understood what Break's problem was.

"It's all we got, right?" the blond then hummed, placing his hands on his seat between his legs, he offered the man a kind smile. The hatter's eye widened just a bit when seeing this, he then simply gazed outside the window again while muttering, "Such an uncute brat," under his breath.

Alice gave the albino a curious look when hearing this, a smirk on her face.

The rest of the ride was quiet, Oz started dozing off again after a while, though the moment he heard that ghostly voice whisper 'I love you' he was wide awake again, this went on for three times or so, until Gil gently grabbed his hand. Oz thought about pulling his hand back, but knew that would be suspicious, so he simply tried to ignore it and after a while fell back asleep; _a dreamless sleep_ that was over way too soon.

Gil gently woke him up, he even suggested if the boy wanted to stay here while they looked around but he shook his head.  
He was the last one to get out of the carriage, emerald eyes looked around the abandoned place. The first time he came back after ten years in the abyss he had been surprised to see in what state this place was… even now, it was hard to imagine that this was the same place he held his coming of age ceremony.

"Where would you like to start, Oz?" Alice then asked,

He turned around to face her, "Well…" he spoke, glancing at Gilbert and Break. The hatter had decided to sit down on the staircase and Gilbert was looking around for anything suspicious. The boy didn't know if the other him had tried looking around the mansion ten years ago, but after listening to some stories, the other Oz was probably too lazy for that.

Therefore, it would be odd if he went straight to the place where he knew Alice's memories were. The place where the pocket watch was had one… but the Will of the Abyss had used that memory to attack them, and the pocket watch as well had one of her memories.

If no one had looked at that place that would mean it was still hidden underneath the ground. Neither Break nor Gilbert were looking at him, but he wouldn't be surprised that they both still were paying attention. He sighed, investigating the two buildings first would only waste too much time, it took him three days to look around and even then, he hadn't seen everything. Wasn't there any way for them to just skip that?

"Let's just… look around for a while?" he then suggested,

"The buildings don't seem to safe," Gilbert then spoke, and Oz could almost kiss him. The blond breathed a silent 'thank you' under his breath before looking at the man over his shoulder, "Then we'll stay outside? If there would be any memories of Alice there… she would feel it, right?" he glanced at the chain,

"I wouldn't know? Perhaps I have to get-" her eyes widened when meeting Oz's eyes, she stopped with talking, seeing the boy nod towards something in the distance, she didn't look at it, but knew what he meant, "I think so…" she then agreed, "I mean…" she finally turned her head to look at the many trees, narrowing her eyes slightly she could see something like a hidden staircase, the others wouldn't be able to see it with their normal human eyesight. This meant that Oz knew of that staircase… "This way," the girl then spoke and headed towards the staircase, she walked fast, eager to find her memories and Oz quickly ran after her.  
They walked for a while until both older males were out of hearing distance. "You've already found the memories from this place?" she spoke softly,

"Yeah, I don't want to waste our time in going inside those buildings…" he smiled, looking over his shoulder at his friends. They seemed to talk, it was rare to see in this world, usually Gilbert got angry at Break whenever he saw them together because of the man insulting Oz, but without him it seemed that they could actually have a normal conversation. The reason why they couldn't be just friends… was because of him.

Alice noticed something was troubling him and gently grabbed his hand, "It's fine, you're different." She said, Oz furrowed his brows and glanced at their hands… the other Alice wouldn't do that… he still smiled sadly at her.

He heard Gil and Break halt their conversation, making him want to look again, but that's when the girl noticed something, they had almost reached the stairs and now that they were close enough the brunette most have noticed the presence of her memories. She started running, dragging the Vesalius with her. He almost fell on the stairs, yet didn't slow her down at all. Behind him, he could hear the raven shout his name and run after them.

He watched how Alice slowed down and let go of his hand, slowly walking towards the place where Oz fell through the ground, he quickly ran after her but before they reached that spot she stopped and looked around.

She whispered something, just like the first time before slowly reaching her hands out towards something she couldn't reach, "I'm home," she then spoke. This caused the memory to wake up, and the boy saw how the place returned to the state it had been in 100 years ago. A younger Alice ran past them, towards the entrance that would lead to the tombstone, there Jack waited for her and scolded her for coming alone with a smile. He couldn't see his face like the first time because of the too bright light from the sun, it was strange… knowing that no one knew who this man was standing in front of them.

_The Will of the Abyss didn't show up._

The memory slowly faded away,

"Was that…" Gilbert broke the two teenagers from their trance, they quickly turned around to face the two other males, the moment he and Gil made eye contact those golden eyes turned serious. "Honestly, what's with you two running off like that? This place isn't safe!"

"Ah, sorry," the boy chuckled,

"There's another memory here," Alice then interrupted them,

"Where?" the raven asked her, looking around. The sky had returned to the dark gray color again, soon it would rain again.

"In the memory there was something there," the hatter then spoke, the hint of a smile on his face. Whatever he and Gil had talked about, it had brought his nonchalant aura back again. Break pointed towards the now even ground.

Oz had discovered it by accident, he had heard the pocket watch playing and it had led him here so that the floor collapsed beneath him. Looking around, there really wasn't anything that showed them how to break the floor beneath him. He couldn't even remember where exactly the entrance was, perhaps only one step? Perhaps more… He took a few steps closer, a soft tune playing in the back of his head. Was this his mind playing a trick on him or was the pocket watch actually calling him again like the first time?

There it was.

It took him, but a second to realize his big mistake, he heard the ground crumble beneath his feet. And suddenly there was nothing beneath him and he fell.

His scream was louder than both Alice and Gilbert shouting his name, it was quickly interrupted the moment he fell hard on his backside. All air got pushed out of his lungs and he tried to hold onto something while he slipped of the stone staircase with his back.

Someone tried grabbing him by collar to keep him from hurting himself more but suddenly let go.

It had only taken him a few seconds to get down, but it felt way too long. The boy groaned while choking on his own breath, he knew he was bleeding and tried to roll on his side, the pain from his back was unbearable.

"Oz!" Alice was the first to get down, "Are you alright?" she almost shouted, and the boy wanted to calm her down, wanted to tell her it was fine, it was just his body getting over the shock of suddenly falling, but he only groaned in response.

"Raven," Alice then looked up to meet Raven's gaze, seeing the man was injured as well. He had tried to grab the boy, but had to let go when a bunch of stones fell hard on his arm that he was now holding close to his chest, it was covered in filth and bruises while bleeding from several places.

"I'm fine," he quickly spoke while kneeling down to look at Oz, he winced softly when seeing the blood coming from the smaller one's back.

"I-I don't think he can stand up," Alice said, gazing at the boy's painful expression.

"No… I'm fine," the boy quickly stopped her, "M'fine,"he repeated, more to convince himself than the others. _God, he felt stupid. _

"Oh yes, we all believe that. Seeing the state you're in," Break finally joined the three friends, making sure not a single brick fell on him; he dusted himself a bit off while quickly glancing at the others. Alice seemed fine, nothing had hit her too badly, Gilbert's arm was simply bruised, though if they didn't treat it quickly, it could become worse. The one in the worse situation right now must be Oz. "What were you listening to anyway, young master Oz?" he then asked the boy, seeing how much he was in pain, he actually felt sad for him.

The boy opened his eyes; everything was blurry as he gazed at Alice's worried face. She was the one sitting closest to his face; he could hear Gil but didn't know where he was. "The pocket watch…" he said through gritted teeth, he tried to sit up, pain shot through his whole body and Gilbert had to push him back down. "Gil…"

"It's fine, here… let me help…" the man wanted to help the boy getting up, but Break gently pushed his not injured hand away from the boy with his cane.

"Break," the man seemed ready to attack the hatter,

"Alice-kun, go get that pocket watch." Xerxes calmly spoke, he put the cane in his belt and kneeled down, his single red eye followed the girl that immediately got up and ran towards the tombstone to pick up the pocket watch. The moment she touched it another memory came loose.

While both Alice and Gilbert were distracted, Break softly grabbed the boy's arm, "I'm going to lift you up," he said evenly, the boy protested, said he was fine, the hatter simply ignored his protests and picked him up. He heard the boy wince when his arm wrapped around his back, "You'll have to bear with it for a while,"

"Break, what are you doing?" the raven finally noticed what was going on, seeing his lover in the arms of the man whom hated him wasn't really trustworthy.

"You're injured. Young master Oz can't walk. This is faster." He answered, "Now, shall we?" he turned on his heel and already walked up the stairs, it took some time for the others two to follow him so he spoke quickly. "Tell me," he hummed softly, eye calm. "Are there any more memories of Alice-kun here?" he looked down at the boy seeing him shake his head as he nodded.

Their driver had heard the noise they made and came to check, giving them all a confused look. "Master Break, what happened?"

"No time, we're leaving." Break gave him one of his famous eerie smiles while walking nonchalantly past him, like carrying a boy whom was in serious pain was the most normal thing. The driver was confused, not once had he thought his master would even bother helping the young master Oz, yet here he was. And he didn't even care about the blood on his white jacket.

They all headed towards the carriage where they let Oz lie down, Gilbert let the blond use his lap as a pillow while Break and Alice sat across from them again. "I could have carried him," he then spoke, their carriage started driving.

"No you couldn't," Break spoke calmly, glancing at the boy, seeing that he was still in pain. He then looked at the pocket watch Alice was still holding.

The drive back home was unpleasant, the Vesalius heir tried to keep himself quiet but with every bump in the road his back slammed against his seat and he couldn't hold back a groan of pain.

.

Sharon quickly ran towards them as soon as they arrived, "Dear heavens," she said, giving them all a worried look. "You should have used Eques, it would have been faster."

"I don't think that would have been safe, seeing the state our young master is in." Break answered while gently helping the blond with getting out of the carriage, slapping Gil's hand away when he tried to help. "Mistress, please help Gilbert-kun with his arm before he does something stupid." The hatter then spoke while lifting Oz up again.

The Rainsworth nodded, giving her adopted brother a curious look, but she did not question him. "Come on, Gilbert."

"I'm fine, I need to help Oz."

"No you're not." Sharon spoke in a scolding tone, "Let me clean up your wounds,"

"Alice-kun will help," Break spoke over his shoulder before entering the large mansion,

"But Oz-"

"Alice-san," Sharon smiled kindly at the brunette, "You'll help me, right?"

The young Vesalius didn't hear the chain's response, but it was rather easy to guess what Break was trying. He wanted to be alone with him. If he wouldn't have been in such pain he might have tried talking himself out of it. Besides, he didn't have to worry, he didn't know why, but Break acted just like Gil would in this kind of situation. He was gentle and did his best to not hurt him as much as possible, he was actually lucky the hatter was helping him, Gil would have freaked out by now.

It seemed to take forever until Break reached his bedroom; there he headed straight towards his bathroom. "Alright, I'm going to put you down, do you think you can stand?"

He nodded, the pressure on his back was gone, his shirt was sticking to his back and it felt unpleasant.

The moment his feet touched the ground the world started spinning around and he had to hold onto something otherwise he would fall, "Ah sorry," he apologized when he fell right in Xerxes's chest.

"Let's say we're lucky Gilbert-kun isn't here,_ hm_?" the man joked, he waited until the blond finally let go of him, after being sure he wouldn't just fall. Moving much too hurt in his lower parts.

"You probably bruised your tailbone," the hatter then explained while wetting a towel, "Can you remove your shirt?"

"Ah… yeah," he nodded and removed his dirty sleeveless jacket, he knew he was slow yet Break didn't get angry, he didn't make any mean jokes, he simply waited patiently,  
Then got a bit impatient and helped him again. Removing his red tie and then his shirt that was ripped open at the back and covered in blood.

He let Oz lean on the sink while washing his back, "I don't think we'll have much time, so I'll get straight to the point," Xerxes spoke, the heir looked up and gazed at the albino's reflection in the mirror, Break's gaze was fixed on his back, he only stopped when he needed to wash the blood off the towel. "You're not the brat I hate, are you?" he then spoke, muttering an amused apology when Oz winced because of the cold water against his back.

"So… you noticed," he didn't know how he even managed to smile in this kind of situation, obviously he was in deep trouble now.

"The moment Alice-kun said she couldn't smell the poison on you," he nodded, "Which made me curious, too, be honest, it took me some time…" he continued, "There was no way you could be someone in disguise, that would be odd…" the hatter had cleaned up the dirtied wound and walked to where they kept the first aid box, grabbing some ointment. "It's grazed," he explained, "I'd be more worried about your tailbone, you fell pretty hard on it."

"Great," the boy sighed,

"Well, now you have an excuse when you don't want to have sex with Gilbert-kun,"

Eyes widened in surprise when hearing this, he didn't even notice the pain anymore as he turned around fast to face the amused hatter. He gasped softly when his injured back touched the sink,

"Gilbert-kun's room is close to Sharon's," the hatter explained, "I just happened to walk by,"

"…Oh…" the boy nodded, his whole face turned red.

"Turn around now, I can't treat your wound like this," he made a loose gesture and the boy nodded before turning his back towards the man again, he flinched slightly when feeling the cold ointment touch his back.

"So… would you like to explain it to me, _Who you really are._"

"Oz, I'm Oz."

Break chuckled, "I know that,"

Oz sighed, he couldn't remember how he had convinced Alice, somehow convincing Break sounded a lot more complicated. "Wish… you know that Chain, right?" he felt the man freeze with his hand covered in ointment still on the wound, Xerxes looked up to meet the teenager's gaze in the mirror, before nodding and returning to his task. "Yes, the name sounds familiar,"

"It's the same Chain that changed your past," Oz spoke, by Break's reaction he knew the others didn't know yet, but the hatter didn't interrupt him so he continued, gazing at the sink instead, the towel covered in his blood rested there, it made him grimace. The boy had never been a fan of blood. "I… made a contract with it… not on purpose." He quickly added, "Alice, Gil and I… we had to fight against it… but it killed Gil." His throat hurt again, he felt like vomiting if he kept staring at that towel. Blood reminded him of that day… so the boy quickly looked away. "I must have… snapped. I can't remember, unconsciously I made a wish and next thing I know… I woke up in this place,"

"What did you wish?" Break cleaned his hands and grabbed some bandage, his voice was calm, _he believed him_. The boy felt an enormous weight being lifted off his shoulders and he smiled softly.

"I-I… can't remember? My memory is a mess. I think… for a better life for Gil?"

"Does the other Gilbert-can worry about you as well, so much?"

The blond nodded sadly,

"Well… I think your friend might be in love with you then," he hummed in amusement while wrapping the bandages around the boy's body. "You're just friends in the other world, am I right?"

He nodded,

"Must have been a shock,"

Oz nodded again, breathing out a chuckle this time.

"Well then, I should apologize. I saw you for another spoiled brat and was rude to you," he nodded and took a step back to look at what he'd done, the boy's back was treated now.

"N-No, it's fine. I-I… the other Oz, surely, I mean…" he stopped talking when feeling the hatter ruffle his hair, "Don't blame yourself for something you didn't do," he then sat down on the edge of the bath, "I must say, I like you more than the spoiled brat. You use your brain,"

"Ah… well…" he smiled softly while rubbing the back of his head, behind him, he could hear the sound of people running towards his door and he looked over his shoulder,

"Oz are you alright?" both Gil and Alice came rushing in,

"Hey Gil, Alice." The blond chuckled,

When seeing their friend was still alive and felt completely at ease in the presence of Xerxes both calmed down.


End file.
